Blade's Singing End
by noyz22
Summary: Rhynne is a simple farmer, though her crop is far from simple to grow. Living in the freezing mountain sides of the North she is forced to work to increase her greedy father's purse. During her 20th year two knights arrive that change everything. Pulled into war and forced to hide her gender, Rhynne is still happy to be free of her father's prison, but is she truly free?
1. Chapter 1

_When food is scarce and the bed hard, a strong person will make due. If clothing fits too tightly and what skin that shows is brown with filth, a strong person will make due. When death lingers in the very air, threatening to steal a soul away without mercy should it have even a moment's chance, a strong person will make due then, too._

_This I have lived by for twenty long years._

One

"Rhynne, the sun is almost upon the horizon. The fields need misting." My father said softly from my doorway. For him to have to wake me I must have slept far beyond what I had intended. A day poorly started, for sure.

"Yes; I'll be ready and out before the first rays touch." I promised, already on my feet and shaking the straw from my hair.

"Do not be late." His said, voice floating in from the hallway as he walked away. The staccato emphasis he placed onto each syllable made it clear he was angry that he would have to rush me. The crop was everything. To risk its health was to risk our livelihoods.

Pushing away the tendril of fear that touched by spine, I focused my energies on pulling one still partially frozen layer of fabric on over the other. The roughly sewn furs and under tunics perpetually smelled faintly of mold due to the constant moist state they found themselves in. I had long grown so used to the odor that I only barely noted it anymore. On the floor lay the four pair of socks, thick leather boots, and snow shoes I had discarded from my tired feet the night before. Now I gritted my teeth against the cold as I pulled them all back on again, finally finishing by tightly tying the snow shoes down. Last came the layers of fur that I wrapped carefully around my neck and lower face. These would prove to be invaluable against the winds that were ever slithering their way into your clothing and sucking away any hope of warmth.

"Rhynne..." Father's voice sounded from the main hall again, the threat behind the softly spoken word so subtly spoken only someone that knew of his nature would ever sense the danger.

"Ready father." I said quickly, moving through the hallway as fast as my shoes and layers would allow.

The front door was bolted shut with two steel locks and one large wooden cross bar as always. Getting the door free of its holdings and open usually took more effort than I had to give in the mornings, but that day I had the door open and shut again behind me in record time. There was no such thing as exhaustion if father was angry with you.

The mountain cold never failed to strike the air from my lungs with its intensity. The wind was already strong that morning, almost ripping my furs straight from my shoulders, but I held on with white knuckles as I made my way across the pathway to the shed that held the mister. Inside the air was warmer, almost hot, and extremely humid. This was my very favorite, and most hated, part of the day. The shed was quite large; it had to be, because its creaking walls enclosed the only naturally occurring hot spring for 100 leagues. The spring's boiling waters held certain minerals that our crop could not survive without. The shed kept the winds at bay, allowing me to fill the mister without much trouble, while also becoming a sort of safe haven against the bitter cold. Of course, the cold was always worse after visiting the springs. The moisture from the air settled on your clothing and face then froze into a solid crackling mass while you worked. It was as unavoidable as breathing.

Once finished I strapped on the burden that was the water container and spoke the words that would activate the charm that kept the essential water from freezing. I was no enchantress, of course, but the actual device had carved into it a spell that could be made to work temporarily whenever certain words were spoken out loud. I had no idea what those words meant, though I had always gathered it was something along the lines of "Start". Regardless of their true meaning the spell always came to life at my spoken demand, and that day was not any different than those before it.

Armed with a my magic tank and its thin nossle, I pulled the shed's doors open and forced myself to step back out into the bitter cold. The wind seemed to have grown stronger for the ten minutes I had left it. My feet moved forward almost of their own accord, driven by ten years of the same daily routine, and I found myself walking towards the swaying white flowers that were my family's life's blood. As always they glistened with their frozen sap, each pedal covered in a thick nectar. In its frozen state it shown silver in the winter sun. I liked it best this way, I had to grudgingly admit. At least when frozen it was unable to stain your clothing and skin for days at a time.

Dragon's Heart, they called this flower. Its nectar, when thawed properly, created the most pure, beautiful purple pigment ever found in nature or made by man. As purple was the royal color, and the flower was extremely rare and hard to grow, there was great demand for it. My father chose to take that to his advantage.

Pulling the little lever at the base of the nossle I began to mist the Dragon's Heart with its nourishment of the day. Not for the first time I thought of dumping the water into the soil and starving the crops. It took only a single missed day to kill an entire field of Dragon's Heart. Perhaps if we were suddenly without a means of money my father would be forced to move us south from this terrible place and onto a true farm. The idea had no heart behind it, though. I had done so already once, as a child. Half the crop had shriveled by the next day, but father had not taken us away. Instead he had starved me for a week and three days. On the 10th day my will to fight him broke, as he knew it would eventually, and I realized that I would forever be at his mercy. I had been eleven then.

It took five hours to go up and down each row of Dragon's Heart, my mister sputtering out of water at the last flower as I had carefully rationed it to do. That task done, I began high-stepping my way back to the shed. Day's out on the mountain were very short, as the sun was already only a couple of hours from reaching its peak, and still there was work to be done back in the house.

Two shadows caught my eye as I neared the shed door. So surprised was I by the unexpected change in white horizon that I almost tumbled straight into the wood wall in front of me.

_Visiters!_

Choking back a sudden knot of pure joy, I threw back the doors and bustled inside. Tank and nossle were off and on their hangers in the span of a breath, and I already half way to the house in the span of a second.

Visiters meant hot food and a pause to the day's work. Seeing a face that was not my father's and a chance to rest my weary bones from their labor was so welcomed and rare that every such occurance was burned into my memory like bright stars. The last man to see us had been the king's very own right hand, sent to retrieve that year's harvest of dye. The crotchety old man had shaken my hand, saying that if I continued to work as hard as I did, I might grow up to be the strongest lad in the North. He had not seen me for the woman that I was, as none do, though I never blamed them for it. My hair was cut above my ears, my own handiwork, and my clothing decidedly nondiscript. There was no need for beauty up there in those harsh mountains. Such things were only an instrument of your own death.

The shadowed figures condensed, became two men riding slowly on shivering mules. Their bodies shown blindingly bright in the sun. These were no servants of the king sent to buy dye. These were knights. Their arrival was never anything short of trouble. A fear entirely different than that I felt of my father quickened my step. Father would need to be warned of their coming.

My pace increased too late. The men arrived at our front door just as I did, there faces hidden behind their iron helmets. Closed against the cold, I had no doubt. Without so much as a formal greeting the smallest of the two unseated himself and gripped me by the elbow.

"Boy, where is your father?" The knight asked, his voice almost lost in the wind that whistled against his mask. I gulped softly, taking in the green and gold lion emplazoned on his shield that declared him a knight of the king's guard.

"He is inside, preparing the axes for wood gathering." I answered in the calm voice I used to placate my father whenever he grew angry. The knight spat on the ground, stating his distaste of my answer. Perhaps he disliked knowing my father would be armed?

"Do you know why we have come?" The larger man demanded thunderously, his booming voice giving the wind no chance to sweeping it away. I shook my head slowly, making a conscious effort not to shake it furiously back and forth like a mad woman. These men did not seem the sort you wanted to show weakness to.

"You will in time. Take us inside. We would have words with your father." The smaller ordered.

"You still have hold of my arm, sir knight." I answered smoothly, trying to buy as much time as possible. Perhaps my father knew of the potential danger already, but there was no way to know. The knight's helmet dipped down as he shifted his gaze to the hand still holding me captive. With a rough squeeze he released it.

"If you'll follow me." I said with a small bow. Turning to the front door, I prayed father had remembered to lock it behind me. He had not. With mounting worry I pulled open the door and was met with an empty front hall.

"Father!" I called, "There are knights of the king's guard come to speak with you!"

"I am here." His voice floated in from the kitchen. I followed it, the men close behind.

Now that we were inside, away from the bitter cold and in a room with a large hearth, the men removed their helmets. Glancing back in curiosity, I was mildly shocked to see that the smaller of the two men was a boy no older than my own twenty years. His hair and eyes were as black as the night's sky, and his face was the sort of handsome young kitchen winches sighed over; such features that were known only to the royal family. I wondered what had befallen this young prince that he would be punished by being sent to this hell. The second was an older man, perhaps forty. His only hair, apparently having grown tired of his scalp, grew only on his face in a giant rust red mustache that was currently frozen to his cheeks. Unthawed it would more than likely extend outwards even farther than his ears. I found I feared them both equally; the prince for his emotionless eyes, and the man for the sheer muscle of his build. Both appeared capable of killing me with but a flick of the sword.

In the kitchen father was seated at the great dining table, three plates already made up with goblets full of red wine. The single maid that lived among us had cooked a simple meal for the visitors. Roasted mountain fox and herbs, silver erl roots, and steamed turnips. The small of the meat had my mouth watering instantly, but I ignored it and pulled seats back for our guests, for that was what they seemed to be. The larger man sank down gladly, letting out a loud "harumph!" as his arse settled in the chair. It sagged a bit at the weight of him plus thirty pounds of metal but held. I had built that particular chair to replace the broken one before it, and felt a small spike of pride that it could hold against such stress. The boy sat slowly, keeping himself on the edge of his seat as if to make flight or fight at any moment. The boy made me nervous.

"Leave us, Rhynne." Father commanded softly after they had taken their seats, and I moved to obey. The young boy grabbed my wrist before I had gone a step.

"The boy stays. He is to listen as well."

"Very well. What is your business here." My father asked. His anger was building. It was one thing for these unexpected vistors to eat our food and sit in our halls, but quite another to give my father orders.

"I am Sarj, knight of the king's guard," The older man, Sarj, boomed. "The king is in need of strong hands. There is a war brewing; between man and the Ugran. We have been sent to gather your son."

"I am Arrus, third prince of the king and knight of his guard." The younger, Arrus, added. "I am here to ensure your compliance by reminding you of the debt to our king you owe."

"Excuse me," I interjected softly, causing all eyes to fall onto me, "but you mean to take me away from this place to fight against a people I know little about?"

"That is exactly it, my boy!" Sarj cried, clapping me on the back and nearly throwing me off my feet. Regaining my balance, I allowed myself to feel some hope.

"You cannot." Father said simply. Nobody had yet to touch the food prepared. It sat unnoticed, growing cold by the minute.

"Why is this, then?" Sarj asked, red behind the ears in an instant.

"Because I do not have a son."

"You have no son? Do not allow petty squables between flesh and blood interfere with this!"

"I tell you now, I have no son."

"Who, then, is this?" Sarj cried, taking my wrist from Arrus' grasp and yanking me forward.

"My daughter."

* * *

**Alright... So this is the first story I've started in quite a long while... It gets far better than this in the next chapter, I promise! I just had to get some basic stuff in or it would not have made any sense... Plus here's where she meets the prince, hmm? Shall she be freed now that they know she is female?! Read...and...find out!XD I love you all! Thank you for your support!**


	2. Chapter 2

_Sometimes my father would show something akin to gratitude for my hard work. On the days that I fell to the grown in the purest exhaustion, lips cracked and bleeding from the frozen winds, he would pat my head gently. Looking up through my roughly cut bangs I would lock eyes with him, and though his were always cold, empty, his smile held meaning. He was proud of his slave. _

_My hatred of him grew the strongest in those moments._

Two

"Daughter..?" Sarj echoed, staring hard into my eyes.

"Remove your furs, girl." Arrus demanded, far faster to accept the truth than his companion. I obeyed with some dignity. Layer after layer, I removed all of my furs and extra tunics, until only one remained. The worn wool pants and shirt were all I was allowed to wear. Father disagreed with the maid's idea that I should dress as a lady should. I did not much complain. Dresses were too inconvenient for movement.

"She is far slighter than I imaged. The furs fool the eye into seeing strength." Arrus commented. His tone was as matter of fact as if he were commenting on the sky.

"Excuse me, sir knight, but I am of greater strength than you could ever imagine by simply observing." I told him coolly. I tried with all my might to keep the insult from my voice. This was a knight, a prince, and no amount of wounded pride could allow for disrespect lest I risk my life. The knight raised one eyebrow a fraction of an inch.

"Is that so, farm maiden?" He asked mildly. The corner of his mouth twitched as he spoke. Did I dare believe the stoic prince could feel such an emotion as amusement?

"It is so."

"Can you prove this?"

"Of course I can. The very chairs in which you are seated were carved and build by my own two hands. The fields of Dragon's Heart are misted every day by no other but me, their precious nectar kept flowing through the work of my back alone. I am the only person on this farm to do any true work, and I do it with more skill and determination than any other you might compare me to." I said in a voice as soft as the powdery snow that surrounded us. I was not bragging. I felt no pride for the life I lived. Still, I felt in me a deep need to impress these men. It boiled in my gut, digging sharp claws of anxiety into my heart. I did not much like feeling this way, but could do little to quench its increasing strength. These men represented a chance, my first and only chance, to rid myself of this frigid place.

Father shifted in his seat, his black eyes boring into the side of my face. He did not much like being made to look like a slave driver in front of these men regardless of the truth behind it. His anger could be seen only in the white knuckled grip with which he held his utensils. None of the men had yet to use them.

"That is a bit exaggerated, Rhynne." He began slowly, "You do half as much work as I do myself. You should not-"

"Lying to the king's guard is a punishable offense, father." I interrupted. My voice did not increase in volume, nor was its tone harsh, but I had little doubt that my black hatred of him dripped from every word.

"Oh-ho! I like her, Arrus!" Sarj exclaimed, his laughter echoing throughout the entire house. In his struggle to regain his composure he clapped me in the shoulder again. Without the layers to protect me from the blow I had little doubt that I would be blue upon morning. It was all I could do not to cry out, managing instead to rein it in to a small wince.

"She has a flaw, Sarj. She is a woman. The king wants only men for his armies. The Ugran are particularly fond of our females, as you well know." Arrus cut into his companion's mirth. The larger man was instantly subdued.

"Aye…This is troublesome. Our king will not be pleased that we lost Gorren and Ram to the mountain for nothing." He rumbled, deep in thought. I despaired. My window was shrinking by the moment.

"I can pass for a man. You believed wholly that I was one without any help from me, and you are the king's guard. How could a simple soldier know any the wiser?" I asked, my voice growing louder. My ability to suppress the desperation in my heart was slowly coming undone.

Already I had insulted my father twice in my attempt to persuade these men. I had dared injure his second most prized possession next to his riches; his pride. To be left behind was a greater danger than these men could ever understand. The promise in his black eyes alone as he regarded me from across the table made it very clear I would face far worse than starvation. It would be a miracle if I survived to see the morning sun touch the sky.

"She speaks truth. Even now in her simple garb she is only a woman to my eyes because I know it to be true. Even her voice is rich and unfeminine." Sarj said slowly with the expression of a man deep in thought. One hand lifted to twirl around his long thawed mustache.

"She is my daughter, and you may not have her for your army." Father stated simply. His voice held some life in it now, so deep was his fury that I might be taken from him.

"You, sir, are in no position to make that decision. The king's word is law, and he has told us to fetch the mountain farmer's child and bring them to camp. He did not expressly say that the child should be of a specific gender." Arrus stated frostily. His hand moved deliberately to rest on his sword.

I failed to comprehend Arrus' words at first, and then their meaning slowly sank in. He meant to take me away with them. He meant to take me _away with them._ Suddenly the room was hotter than I could stand, something my body was far from used to. This was all going in my favor so very quickly I hardly followed what words were being spoken next. The sound of my name finally brought my thoughts back to reality. With a small start I realized that Arrus had stood and pulled his sword partially from his sheath.

"…Rhynne is not of the material to be a soldier. She will die in the first wave." My father spat, the carving knife that had been previously protruding from the fox was now gripped firmly in his large hand.

"We are not responsible for that. We only come to follow orders." Came the prince's smooth reply.

"I will not allow you to have her. My fields will die. My livelihood will fall to ruin."

"You seem quite fit enough to tend your own fields, farmer. If I'm not mistaken either you own quite the wealth because of your crops. I hardly believe you will starve for one lost harvest."

"This is an outrage!" My father roared. "She is a woman! The king will surely learn of her and have her killed for defying his command! I will save him the trouble rather than bear the shame such a discovery would bring to my home!"

I had never heard my father speak loudly, let alone hear him boom his voice across the entire household. I quaked at its strength, fear rendering me paralyzed. I watched in mute horror as father brandished his blade, his eyes locked onto me. Today was the day I died. For all my fear I held none for that knowledge as it crept upon me. Somehow, the realization calmed me instead. All time seemed to slow to a crawl as I pondered that fact. Death had never been something I feared, it seemed, only the means in which I would meet its embrace. For years I had allowed this man to rule me as he would a dog. An animal. Yet now that his abuse had come to a head and my end was upon me my terror simply was not there. Closing my eyes, I took in a deep breath and released a silent prayer that I would not feel the sting of his blade.

The clang of metal kissing metal had my eyes open again almost immediately. Arrus, far better trained in combat than my aging father could ever be, had stepped gracefully in front of me and parried the blow with his sword. Father grunted in determination and made to go around him. His sole attentions were on me; my death. The prince followed him deftly, always keeping himself between me and the kitchen knife wielding man before him.

A rough hand grasped my elbow. Gasping, I turned to find Sarj smiling at me with a spark in his eye.

"My prince can handle himself. You should start putting your furs and the like back on, girl. We have a lot of traveling to do." He whispered encouragingly. Even his whisper was louder than should be possible.

"She goes nowhere! Give her back to-ahg..!"

The sudden stop in his cry caused me to turn my head just in time to see the man I had called father for twenty years slide off of the prince's sword. Uncomprehending, I stared at his slack figure, kitchen knife still clutched tightly in his hand. He was dead; pierced through the heart and lung.

"He could not be contained. I am sorry." Arrus said softly.

Something wet landed on my cheek. It was quickly followed by more warm wetness as my vision became blurry. Confused, I brought my hand to my face and rubbed them. It came back damp, and my vision almost immediately blurred again as more tears fell.

"I gave him every chance to stop, Rhynne…" He repeated, touching his index and middle finger to my hand. I did not even acknowledge him, so transfixed was I on the dead man before me.

Something was stirring inside of me. Something foreign to me. It welled up from deep in my soul, bubbling to the surface as wretched sobs wracked my body. Frightened at its intensity I could do nothing to stop it as it ripped through my insides. The tears came and came, stealing away my strength with them, until I had none left to stand anymore. On my hands and knees I worked desperately to quell the tides of emotion striking me but failed with every attempt. Within a few minutes I simply stopped trying and allowed the storm to rage. Twenty years I had lived under that man's roof, shoving my grief away and locking it into a tight box. For ten of those twenty I had toiled on his farm for him, raising those bastardly plants to keep his pockets lined with the gold he loved more than anything else. Now, finally, he was finished. All of the tears I had held back now found the exit they wished for. I was free, fully and truly free.

I had no idea what to do about it.

Sometime later the rivers finally ebbed, leaving my eyes swollen and sore. With their absence came some understanding of the emotions rolling around my innards. Joy, hope, fear, longing to be rid of this house; these fought over each other for the title of most prominent. Nowhere among them did I find a single bit of grief over my father's death. I did feel that I might vomit for crying so hard, though. Instead I forced myself up from the floor and stood. If I swayed in place the men standing before me did not make comment of it. Facing them both I bowed as deeply as I could.

"Thank you." I enthused, my whole heart in those two words, and continued, "I will follow you into whatever battle that lay before us. I will neither complain, nor allow myself to be lacking in my dedication towards becoming a worthy warrior. Also…I will not break down quite so fantastically again…"

As I finished I let my sheepishness show on my face. Controlling my expression at all times was not always the wisest decision, I had grown to understand.

"You have known of true hardship…" Sarj said gently, "Let us be gone of this mad house and never return. Gather your things girl. There is much planning to be done on the way back to the kingdom, and a mountain to travel down in the meantime."

"Don't worry about the house, Rhynne. I shall make good use of your father's gold, and place three fourths of it away for you if you ever choose to return." The maid said from the kitchen doorway. She did not even look at the corpse still bleeding on the floor. Her name was Marigold, I suddenly recalled. We had not been allowed to speak to each other.

"Thank you, Marigold. You may have the three fourths, though, and leave me one. I hardly have use for that much wealth. You will do it more justice, I believe entirely."

"Truly? You would be so generous to me?"

"Truly. The majority is yours. Spend it more wisely than that man did."

He was my father no longer.

Marigold the maid cried out in joy and crushed me to her bosom. I let her, experiencing another first. Hugs were, for very obvious reasons, not something shared in that house.

"I will." She promised, then hustled away to gather soup and water for cleaning up the mess of the man on the floor.

"Dress, girl, dress!" Sarj reminded me, laughing in his overbearing way. I obeyed, deftly pulling on every layer and wrapping the furs securely.

"There are more in that man's room, should you want them." I offered the knights; glad to be able to give them something in return for the great service they had paid me that day. They took the thick hides gratefully, allowing me to wrap them around their metal laden shoulders with deft hands.

"Is there anything you would gather before we leave?" Arrus asked.

"None except food for the journey." I answered, shaking my head. "I have nothing but memories to be forgotten and the cloth on my back."

"Very well, we leave the moment there is food readied."

"I'll gather it. If you two do not mind fetching your mules from the shed outside, I should be done by the time you return to the door."

The men nodded in agreement and left without another word. The sound of the heavy front door closing behind them sent a thrill down my spine. The time was almost here.

Marigold returned as I placed the last wedge of goat cheese in the sack I had been preparing. She carried with her a mop and bucket of sudsy water. Tying the food bag I placed it on the table and moved to help her begin cleaning up the bloody floor.

"No." She stopped me, "This is my pleasure to take care of. The master paid many a visit to my bedchambers. It mattered little to him whether I wanted him there or not."

Unsurprised by this, I nodded and dropped the rag I had grabbed back into the bucket. That he would rape his maid was completely in his demanding nature. Knowing that it had happened without my notice, however, made me incredibly sad.

"He cannot hurt anyone else." I promised, knowing that the damage had already been done long ago.

A sharp rap on the door made me jump. The knights were done fetching their mounts. It was time to go.

Gathering my furs to me more snuggly, I heaved the large bag of food over one shoulder and grasped Marigold's forearm with my free hand. She returned the gesture. Such was the sign of those that called themselves family. We were sisters, she and I. We would be fine.

Sucking in a deep breath and letting it whistle out through my teeth, I pulled open the front door of that house for the last time and stepped out into the unforgiving cold of the mountain.

* * *

**I had inspiration and somehow finished in a day... I cannot promise that all of my chapters will come so quickly, but I do hope that you find them worth waiting for! I also promise to never make anyone wait for more than a week for an update unless under the most dire of circumstances! Thank you for your support! Enjoy!**


	3. Chapter 3

_I had no memories of a home away from the mountain, though sometimes I would wake in the morning with the impression I had dreamt of somewhere warm. Those were the days I was most aware of the freezing winds as I tended to that year's harvest. My body seemed to yearn for the warmth of a land my mind had long forgotten._

Three

"Rhynne, child, it is time to move again."

For a terrible moment my still sleeping mind imagined it was my father speaking to me. Shooting up from my blanket of furs I hurriedly started searching for my clothing only to find myself eye level with Sarj's overly large mustache.

"Oh, don't look so frightened, aye? You're quite safe with us!" He exclaimed good-naturedly. I could only smile faintly at him. The man was such the opposite of my father that I found myself exhausted by the end of every conversation with him. The man simply had so much energy I felt like an elder trying to keep up with a youngling that had just recently found his voice.

Stretching gently I gathered my covers and wrapped them around my shoulders and face. We had traveled all of the afternoon the day before and stopped in a shallow cave that offered some shelter from the snow to rest. I was quite used to the temperature of these lands, but it had grown incredibly clear that Arrus and Sarj were not remotely so adjusted. The two were fully grown men, and yet they shook so hard in their metal boots I feared they might vibrate straight off the ground and be carried into the sky. I would never make such a comment out loud, of course. It would not due to tease the men that had saved my life only hours before.

"We should reach the bottom of the mountain by nightfall if we continue along this path." I told them softly, gaining a smile of relief from Arrus. I had never made the journey myself, but father had always been back by the following evening whenever his dealings with our customers had called for him to go into town.

"That is pleasant news if I've ever heard it." He answered with a small quirk of his lips. As Arrus' facial expressions go he might as well have been grinning from ear to ear like a fool.

"Let us be gone, then! The day is young and the traveling tedious! I shall wish a bed tonight that is not made of stone!" Sarj boomed in his way and started untying the mules.

The rest of that day's traveling was spent in silence, though the winds howled like the very demons of hell were fast at our heels. The mules, a loan from a farmer off the mountain pass, were almost as conditioned to the cold as I was and found little hardship in taking us down at a steady pace. I rode seated in front of Arrus, one of his gloved hands holding firmly to my side. I had not known what to make of this when he had first settled in behind me but had very quickly become grateful of its steady grip. Riding a mule was like riding a log down a rough current, its rough leather saddle chafing my legs even through my layers and giving little room for the two of us to share safely. Even with Arrus' help every dip of the path threatened to throw me off the animal's ever moving back and down the mountainside to my death.

The day wore on in this manner. Each of us kept our heads hunched against the wind while I pondered with increasing imagination what might await me at the journey's end. Where there really fields of green grass where snow never touched? What of the people that lived in them? Did they truly mass together in giant cities that grew so massive they had to have their own rulers under the king to keep them in check? Did the ocean truly span farther than the eyes could see and contain still more kingdoms in its far away shores?

I practically quaked with excitement, but there was also a deeply rooted fear of the unknown. The two knights that were my companions now would surely not be able to save me every time a man quested after my blood. What if I truly did die in the first wave of battle, wiry and thin as I was? If the king learned of my deceit would he have me hanged? Would he have Arrus and Sarj hanged for helping me?

"Stop that." Arrus stated mildly, his fist coming down to strike me on the top of the head just hard enough for it to smart.

"Ow, what was that for?" I asked, surprise coloring my tone.

"You were dwelling. I could read it in the tension of your shoulders. You will not die quite yet, so stop allowing yourself to feel so much worry."

"I fear for you as well, your highness. What is to become of you should your father learn you have helped me?"

"He shall have me placed in the dungeon for a time, I'm sure, but he will cool after a while and release me. My father is not so hot tempered that he would have his own son killed over something so small."

"You speak of being sent to the dungeon as if it is nothing." I said with some accusation in my voice. To imagine him chained to a wall for any amount of time because of me was disconcerting.

"Only because I have been sent there before in his anger. It is not so bad, truly. The guard is funny." He spoke with a faraway tone as if remembering it fondly. I shook my head, unable to understand enjoying imprisonment.

"I said, stop it." He admonished, his fist striking me a second time.

"If you stop that, too, I might!" I cried, unable to keep my frustration from the words as I rubbed my head tenderly. The bastardly prince chuckled softly behind me, just once, but the small sound caught me by surprise. He could laugh as well it seemed. My life was full of surprises lately.

"You two act as siblings would. It warms my heart!" Sarj broke in for the first time. HIs mirthful laughter danced across the mountainside so fully I feared he might send an avalanche down upon our head.

"Silence, old man; nobody asked for your opinion." Arrus spoke coolly, all laughter gone. I silently cursed Sarj for breaking the prince's moment. My gut told me he did not have many of them.

"Before we go too much farther we must find a new name for you, girl. 'Rhynne' is too feminine." Sarj spoke up more seriously. The thought had yet to occur to me. Now it seemed so obvious I was ashamed to have not seen it before.

"What do you think of Boil? Nice and tough, isn't it?" He offered. I could hardly believe he was serious.

"What do you think of Baryn?" I offered, trying for a less unpleasant name.

"Rhyce suits you better." Arrus offered. I opened my mouth to object it, and then stopped. It was not a bad one and close enough to my true name that I would not have trouble reacting to it if it were called over the length of a room.

"Rhyce…" I said it slowly, trying it on my lips. It would do.

"It's settled, then! Welcome to the king's army, Rhyce! You shall be a fine soldier!" Sarj exclaimed in his way, moving to slap me on the back yet again, but this time I was ready. Dodged quickly, his hand swung harmlessly through the cold air. Finding no insult in my avoidance he only laughed and settled more comfortably onto his mount.

Another stretch of time passed in companionable silence. Sarj's mule grunted as it sidled around a particularly large snow mound. It did not occur to me for some minutes that I had been able to hear it do so. With some shock I realized that we had descended out of the wind's reach, its once overpowering shriek now only a low howl behind us. So attuned was I to its presence that in its absence suddenly everything around me was unbearably loud. The huffed and grunts of the mules as they labored to bring us down the mountain invaded my ears along with the deep panting of our larger companion. Every clink of metal and swoosh of the saddle bags became so noticeable that soon I found myself burying my head inside my furs in order to tune them out.

"Are you alright?" Arrus asked after an hour had passed in this way. The sun was on its silent descent down the westward horizon by now.

"Quite," I answered through my wrappings, "I simply like my ears to be warm."

"You're lying, farm maiden." He accused, his hand squeezing my side uncomfortably tight.

"Are you to force it from me, then?" I challenged.

"I might." Was his short answer, his fist lifting to threaten another head boxing.

"Everything is too loud without the winds."

Admitting that I missed even a small part of my old home was shameful, especially that which had been one of my most hated enemies before.

"Should I box your ears?"

"No! No, I will come out." I said quickly, willing to suffer anything to keep him from striking me again. Doing so quickly, I turned a little and offered him a surrendering smile. His answering nod of approval was enough to understand he would not hit me again unless he deemed it necessary.

"You must get used to the winds not being there. Where we are going there is very little. There _will_ be quite a bit of noise, however, so you should not hide from it now."

He was actually scolding me as one would a child! Huffing to myself, I held on more tightly to the saddle and straightened my back proudly. Even my father had not done so. I had not been a child in his eyes since the day I had become capable of bearing children. It had been the following day that I had been sent to the fields to learn how to work the mister. To be treated as such now brought out a defiant side of me I did not much know what to think of.

"Leave the girl be, my prince! She will adjust in time." Sarj admonished his younger companion, earning a scowl for his efforts. I nodded at him in appreciation.

The air was slowly growing warmer as we descended, though I had hardly noticed the shift yet, and I found myself growing tired. The cold was leaving my bones, a relaxing drowsiness left behind in its passing. Stifling a yawn, I allowed myself to settle more comfortably in my seat. Soon, though I fought valiantly against them for several minutes, I found my eyelids were too heavy for my exhausted strength to bear, and I eventually fell into a light doze.

I dreamt of my mother.

I had very few memories of her, and those that I had were blurry and warped. Her tender smile following me as I tottered across the floor on little legs shown the most brightly. I dreamt of that smile nodding to me sadly as I tried to explain that father had passed on, that I was leaving our old home behind. Warm, slender hands wrapped around my own as she murmured something soothing into my hair. Unable to comprehend her, I simply stared at her smiling mouth as it moved, transfixed by it. She used to sing to me, I recalled, and suddenly my sad dream was filled with a shifting melody. The words were long gone even from my unconscious memories, and I found that to be destructively saddening.

A shadow fell over mother's face. Father stood behind her now, he hands reaching for her throat. I grasped her hands in my own, trying to warn her of the danger, but she did not hear or did not care and only continued smiling serenely at me. I screamed, desperately to stop my father from doing what I knew would end her life, but my cry stuck in my throat. Her hands were ripped from mine, her mouth opening in an "O" of shock as my father's hand closed around her. The melody of my dreams grew sour, its gentle notes falling flat and stuttering to a halt.

Helplessly, hopelessly, I cried out one last time as the life drained from her blurry face.

"Rhynne! Awaken!" Arrus' frustrated voice struck me from my nightmare, his hands shaking me in my seat.

Wordlessly I turned to him and touched his face with one trembling hand. He stiffened, his eyes fixing to mine in confusion. I only smiled and pulled my hand away before turning back around. He could never understand what he had done by killing my father.

He could never understand how late it had come.

The sight before me knocked my grim nightmare straight from my head. With a gasp I pulled the mule to a halt and slid from the saddle. Before me was a farm. This was not the sort of farm that man and I had shared, but a true farm. Rows of corn waved in the cool breeze before me, the muddy trail on which I stood devoid of any snow. Shock still rendering me speechless, I turned and looked behind us only to find that it had been some miles since there had been snow upon the ground and that the sun was only an hour from setting. With a small cry I threw myself around and forward, running with abandon into the tall corn. The smells of dirt, the rough texture of the stalks and their growths, all invaded my senses almost painfully. I laughed in joy.

"What on earth is gotten into your boy?" The farmer asked the knights as they rode up to where he stood tending to a tomato plant.

"He has spent a lifetime on the mountain." Sarj answered, his voice grim as he watched me roll around in the dirt. I did not even hear them so wrapped up was I in my explorations.

"Shall we go, Rhyce?" Sarj asked with a twinkle in his blue eyes. I nodded up at his giant face, made to look only larger because of his ridiculous facial hair. I would never say that opinion to his face, however.

"Yes!" I answered gleefully. Cool sweat running down the back of my neck suddenly called to my attention the fact that I was stifling under my many layers. The mountain cold was gone, replaced with warmth I could hardly imagine could be possible. Gasping at the sudden knowledge I began unwrapping my furs from my shoulders without pausing to think. Layers came off of me like I were some great onion being shed for cutting until there were only two left. I marveled at the sweat causing the undermost layer to stick to my skin. It was not freezing!

It was ghastly uncomfortable.

"You may have these if you like, sir." I offered the farmer, who was still staring at me as if I might grow a third eye, and held up the furs. He accepted them with a tight nod and then took a quick step back. Even fear of my apparent madness could not stop him from taking what would fetch him good money at the market. Smiling at him in what I hoped was a soothing way I stored my remaining layers of ruined cloth in an empty pack and pulled myself back onto Arrus' mule.

"You had a nightmare before, didn't you?" He asked me softly as we began to move again. He, too, had removed his furs and left them behind with the farmer. Sarj had decided to keep his and had draped them across his mule's rear end. The sudden vision of my mother's eyeless face twisting in shock made me shutter.

"It was nothing, truly…" I murmured, trying to make it clear I did not want to speak of it. The prince was silent for a time. After several minutes I dared look back and saw him looking down at me patiently. Clearly he still wanted to answer and was enough to give me the time to find my words. I wilted under his expressionless gaze and gave in.

"It was about my mother… She died of illness when I was a small child." I admitted. It had been father's fault. His cruelty had been a poison on her soft heart. He had used her just as he had used me, and it had eventually been her undoing. Even as a toddler I could see it happening but had been too small and powerless to stop it.

"You will learn that there are some things you should not keep inside of yourself, Rhynne." He said with some kindness. "In the army the men you will train with will be able to spot your weaknesses if you try and hide them. It is best to let them fuel you to work harder instead of letting them fester into something that will hinder you."

"You're lecturing people again, prince." Sarj said in amusement. I could feel Arrus' disapproving glare even without seeing it. The older man was smart enough not to say anything else on the matter. Personally I was grateful for the prince's advice. There had never been anyone to give me any before, and I soaked up his well-meaning words with gratitude.

"We should stop for the night." Arrus said with finality.

The mountain was only several hundred yards away. I wanted to be miles gone before we stopped, but that was not my choice to make. These knights had traveled far to gather a lone boy, and it was not my place to make demands. Still I hoped that the nearest inn was far from here even if I could not say so out loud.

"I agree." Sarj rumbled, scratching his bald head.

"The lodge is two hours from here. We will make it not long after dark." Arrus stated to no one in particular, and then spurred his mule a little faster.

Half an hour later we came upon a second farm, this one with a large stable of both horses and mules. In the farthest stalls were the knight's horses, brushed and gleaming. Clearly, these were war horses reared to go into battle. The thought of leaving the mule for these animals that stood above my head and rippled with muscle caused my stomach to twist in anxiety.

"Relax, boy! They're nothing but sweethearts once you get to know them!" The farmhand called out as he came to greet us in the dying light of the evening. I shook my head at the idea of getting onto one of them.

"You'll be fine." Arrus admonished, pulling me not very gently from the mule's saddle. I stared at him nonplussed as he and Sarj removed the saddlebags from their mounts and placed them onto the war horses. A few silver crowns were given to the farmhand as payment for being able to use the mules and I was grabbed suddenly from behind.

"Eep!" I squeaked, embarrassingly sounding every bit the female I was. Arrus hardly noticed as he lifted me by the hips onto the new mount. Rather unceremoniously I was settled like a sack of potatoes onto the larger saddle of a black mustang. The horse grunted and shifted his feet, clearly displeased with the idea of carrying two people rather than the usual one. Nervously, I scratched behind its ear in an attempt to calm it. The giant horse turned its head and regarded me silently, one big eye rolling up to look at me fully. I returned the stare, trying to appear as if I knew what I was doing and that I did not feel strange trading stares with a horse. It let out a "humph" through its nose and turned back, apparently deciding I was not worth its time.

"His name is Midnight." Arrus offered as he hoisted himself up and settled in behind me. I nodded my thanks and patted the horse's neck gently.

"I'm new to this, sir Midnight, but I hope you can grow to like me. I would be friends, if you'll allow it." I muttered softly into his ear. He only grunted again and shook his head. I hoped that was an agreement.

The ride was hard to take at first. Arrus urged the stronger mount into a slow canter the moment we were back on the road, which threatened to throw me off at any moment. Once again I found myself grateful of his steady hand at my side keeping me there.

The inn took less time to reach than they had previously believed. The sun had only been below the horizon half an hour when they spotted the lodge's door lantern swinging in the distance. In another minute we were upon it, and the keeper came out to greet us.

"Welcome back, sir knights!" The greasy man enthused, eyeing their purses shamelessly, "I will have a room ready for you and your new company in just moments! Why don't you eat in the mean time? Supper should still be warm! Only two silver crowns apiece for the night and meal!"

"I recall it was one silver crown when we stopped here the first time." Sarj said deeply, his hand alighting onto the top of his broadsword. The keeper gulped visibly.

"Of-of course, how forgetful of me!" He hedged. Holding out his hand the man was given three silver coins as he pouted.

"Come; let us eat something that isn't goat's cheese and tough bread." Arrus announced to us all and got down from his horse. Once Midnight and the other horse, Dove, had been properly stabled we made our way inside.

The inn was full of boisterous men and busy as a beehive with activity. Maids ran everywhere giving out tankards of drinks and platters of food. I turned at the sound of someone sputtering in time to watch an angry man wipe mead from his face. He had apparently tried to grab the maid giving him his supper and been humiliated soundly for it. His companions laughed uproariously at his dripping predicament.

"Can we eat in our room?" I called to my companions over the noise.

"I was about to say the same." Arrus breathed in my ear, not wishing to yell as I had. Sarj shook his head.

"You two go ahead! I'm going to stay behind and enjoy this lot!" He boomed, gaining surprised glances from several of the closer men. We nodded at him in acknowledgement and headed upstairs after stopping a maid and giving our request for the meal to be brought upstairs.

The inn keeper showed us to our room, opening the door with an exaggerated flourish and earned a shiny copper for his efforts. He thanked us a little too brightly and left the room in a rush.

"That man would sell his own mother without a moment of pause." Arrus said darkly as the door swung closed behind him. I nodded emphatically.

A few moments later a knock at the door sounded. I opened it to find two maids laden with soup, bread, drink, and an entire pig's haunch. I hurried to let them in and relieve them of their burden. Once they had finished they were given a shiny copper each before they left. I had no idea what a copper would buy but the young girls, younger even than I, were delighted at their gifts and ran away as if they might be taken back at any moment.

"Eat." Arrus demanded, and I had no trouble complying. Without hesitation I started after the ham, my hungry throwing my manners out the window to die. Between bites of meat I swigged mead, coughing only a little at its sweet burn. I had never been allowed alcohol before and soon found myself dizzy in the head. Chewing thoughtfully on a mouthful of bread, I noticed that the handsome prince had a mole beneath his left ear. Without pausing to think I reached up and poked it.

The prince, not expecting the sudden intrusion of his space, jumped nearly out of his armor. It then seemed to dawn on him that he was still wearing it.

"Help me out of this, will you?" He asked, indicating the heavy plates of metal. I nodded a little too hard, holding my head until the world was still again.

Silently he began pointing at the ties under each plating that held the armor in place. It took some time for my mead slowed hands to obey me in untying them but I managed to succeed every time. First went the shoulder plates, then his front and back pieces. Then there came the hardest part. His chain mail. A single layer of iron rings welded together into a sort of short tunic weighed him down. It took us both to haul it off of him, but after several moments of grunting and pulling we succeeded. Beneath his chain mail he wore nothing but a thin tunic, the fabric tight to his skin with the sweat of getting the heavy outerwear off.

Perhaps it was the quite large amount of mead in my system, but I found that I could not look away from the muscles of his stomach as they rippled under his clothing. The prince was incredibly built, no doubt from years of training and hard battle. A scar peaked out from under his sleeve. Without my permission my fingers lifted and touched its pale pink surface. Arrus stiffened, again looking at me with the same curiosity as when I had touched his face.

"Did it hurt very much..?" I asked softly, tracing my index finger up the old wound. Gooseflesh grew on the living skin around it, but I did not notice.

"Yes, it hurt a great deal." He answered slowly, then said, "You should sleep, Rhynne. There is a long day of riding ahead of us."

"Mm." I agreed, my eyes already growing heavy, and pulled my arm back. The prince seemed to almost visibly relax.

Smiling a goodnight to my companion, I gathered the topmost covering from the bed and curled up on the floor. It was not much harder than the bed I was used to back at the farm, and I certainly could not share the bed with any of those men I told myself. Giggling like a child at the idea, I quickly drifted into the sort of relaxed sleep brought on by too much alcohol. For a silly moment I thought I felt a rough hand brush my hair from my face, but I was far too gone by then to care or remember.

* * *

**And thus Rhynne spends her first day away from her former home!:D I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it! It's longer than any chapter of any story I've yet to attempt and I didn't even notice until it was done! Geez! Bye now until next time!**


	4. Chapter 4

_With nothing but white sky and earth to look at with every passing day I grew very fond of the soft glow of the mister as it lit up at my beckoning. Its warm light had always been a welcome change to the neutral colors that surrounded me, and for all of the ten years I had worked with the device it never occurred to me to ask that man where they had originated from._

_Such things had been irrelevant to me. _

Four

The morning brought with it the smell of milk and freshly cooked eggs. It was nauseating.

"Why does every noise hurt?" I groaned softly, rubbing my aching temples. A thick pounding sounded in my ears with every heartbeat, threatening to burst my brain straight out of my skull. Even my breath rattled through my lungs with deafening volume.

"The girl is hung over! How much mead did you allow her, Arrus?" Sarj asked accusingly as he offered me a plate from where he sat on the bed. I shook my head quickly, too quickly, and found myself moaning softly. It took several seconds for the room to stop tilting. When it had I accepted the offered food and stared at it mournfully. I had little doubt I would be able to finish a third of it.

"I had not known she was so light bodied with her drink." He answered with dignity, not bothering to look up from his own plate as he worked on finishing his breakfast. My face grew hot with embarrassment at my sorry state, and I decided right then I would never allow myself to drink so much ever again.

Sarj shook with suppressed mirth as he inhaled his food. The large man had removed his armor the night before as well, his great size only slightly diminished, and now sat comfortably sprawled across the tough mattress. Even with the pounds of metal gone I had the distinct impression that the man could crush me with one blow. His friendly shoulder taps were testament of that.

As I watched the two knights bicker with the ease one gathers over a long period of working together I realized that I knew very little about my traveling companions. Arrus was a prince and knight, third son of the king, and extremely skilled in combat. Sarj, clearly as far from royalty as one might get, was exactly the opposite of the younger man in almost every way. It struck me that this was most likely exactly why they were such close comrades. They balanced each other out.

_Still, it's about time that I know more of these men. _I thought to myself as I picked at my food. The very smell of the soon to be cold eggs was enough to turn me away from the idea of attempting to eat anything.

"Your highness…" I began softly. The boy paused in his meal and looked up at me curiously. One eyebrow raised slightly on his otherwise stone still face.

"How is it you two came to be companions?" I asked after a moment taken to decide my first question. I did not want to start off with something so invasive I would lose my right to information before I had even had the chance to learn anything.

"My father assigned me to Sarj as his squire when I was twelve. When I grew old enough to attempt the rights and won them, I asked to continue with him as my partner." He answered freely, his voice smooth and emotionless.

"He might as well have been asking his father to give him the black plague for all of the reluctance he showed in doing so!" Sarj added with a smack to Arrus' shoulder. Arrus did not dodge or flinch from the blow, causing me to feel weak for having done so when Sarj's affections were turned on me.

"He just didn't want to admit he had grown to like the company of his appointed bodyguard." Sarj declared and fell into his boisterous laughter. The glare Arrus sent his way sent chills running up my arms. The older man did not even acknowledge his annoyance, having apparently grown used to such looks over their time together. As far as I was concerned I never wanted to be on the receiving end of one of them.

"What about you, then? How did you come to be a knight of the King's guard?" I asked Sarj after giving him a moment to catch his breath. The laughter died from his lips as if it had been sliced away.

"I lost someone important to me. Without them around I didn't have much to do but fight. It turned out that I was good enough to make it this far." He answered. His voice had grown uncharacteristically soft, and I found myself regretting that I had asked him at all. The loss was obviously still a deep wound for him, one I felt might never truly heal, and feelings of understanding and companionship blossomed in my chest. The sensation was new to me, as so many things were, and something must have shown on my face.

"Show us a smile, child! There's no need to get long faced over something that happened long ago." He cried with a solid thump of his fist on the top of my head. I did not dodge or flinch this time, as I knew he only did so out of his attempt to lighten his own mood, and pulled my lips up despite the pain of his strike until they held the expression he asked for. Arrus reached out wordlessly and pinched my cheek hard. Not expecting a second assault of pain I was unable to hide my reaction as well as the first.

"What on earth was that for?" I asked with as much dignity as I could muster after having just squeaked like a mouse. Rubbing the red flesh of my face I glared daggers at the prince.

"He asked you to smile not imitate a toad." He said with a smirk. He was actually _teasing_ me. The image of myself with a giant mouth almost sent me into laughter, but I managed to only just keep it in. It would not do to fall into hysterics after hearing such a solemn admission from Sarj. I did allow myself to smile, however, and cast it towards the large man still munching steadily on his breakfast.

"Better." Arrus said with satisfaction. His pleased smirk pulled upwards into a true smile, and I committed the rare sight to memory knowing I would not likely see it again for some time. It occurred to me that these two had caused me a great deal of physical pain over the last three days and had yet to make me feel any dislike of them. It seemed that not all blows are meant to force a person into doing something but could also become a rather strange sort of affection. Admittedly, I could have gone without that particular sort of camaraderie, but the two men seemed to know no other way of expressing themselves.

"What is it that a squire must pass in order to become a knight?" I asked after the moment had finished.

"They call it taking the rights," Arrus began freely, "And they are different every year. During mine I was stranded with only armor and sword in the middle of Ugran land and left to survive for six days. On the seventh morning they found me bloodied and missing half of that armor but alive and greatly pleased to see them."

For a moment I stared at him open mouthed. The king would have his own son left to starve and most likely die in a country full of monsters? It seemed that there were many things I could not comprehend unless I saw it with my own eyes. The idea that another father could be as cold hearted as my own had been was something I had never thought about. It made a sad sense that there would be, though.

"How did you survive? Where you not just a boy still?" I asked a bit carelessly. Arrus visibly bristled.

"I was plenty old enough to do so and proved it. I lived off of what berries I knew not to be poisonous and by chasing down the wild chickens that roam those lands." He said with a proud puffing out of his chest. Sarj took the chance to punch him lightly in the gut, knocking the air from the boy's lungs. The vision of Arrus as a younger man chasing down a chicken in clanking armor too big for him had me on the verge of tears from suppressing laughter. Sharing the image with him was not a very intelligent thing to do I decided very quickly.

"Aye, he showed himself to be quite the worthy warrior." Sarj said with a merry laugh as the man in question fought to regain his lungs. "Made his father proud."

"I care little about my father's opinions." Arrus muttered weakly.

_They do not get along_. I noted to myself, finding a kinship with Arrus as well. It seemed that I could understand many things about each of these men and prayed that where ever we ended up during this war that they would not be too far from reach. Even as I sent the prayer I felt the childishness in it. Of course the king's guard would return to their king rather than stick around for a simple soldier.

That brought to mind another question I had had while on the road.

"Why did the king send four men just to retrieve a single boy?"

The room grew very still as both men shared a secret look that I did not like in the slightest. Each shifted a little in their seats as they appeared to decide whether I should be told or not. This bothered me even more. Had they truly come to gather another boy for the king's army? The more I thought of the idea the less I found sense in it. The king could have sent any number of foot soldiers that were of far lesser value if lost but instead had sent four of his own men. At least two of them were from his guard. A pit of worry grew in my stomach, but I forced my face to remain patiently impassive as they came to their decision. After a long moment Sarj nodded to Arrus, who shrugged his shoulders indifferently, and turned to me solemnly.

"You are needed at the castle." Sarj said simply. I stared at him in increasing confusion.

"Why..?" It was the only question that my lips would form.

"The king is in need of Wielders." Arrus answered. I let out a startled laugh of relief.

"I'm afraid you've made a mistake, then." I said with certainty. "I am no such thing."

"Actually, you are. The king's seer has marked on the maps where those with the most potential reside, and yours was the first she listed. She was supposed to find only the boys, however, and I wonder now if she knew that she sent us to fetch a girl." Sarj mused almost to himself as he chewed his last bite and sat his empty plate aside. I felt only a growing belief that the king's seer was a fraud.

"There is simply not possible way. I have not worked magic a single time in all the twenty years of my life." I said firmly. There was simply no way that these two men could convince me otherwise. The king would most likely punish his seer when it was found that I was correct.

"That is not quite true…" Arrus said gently. He held his hands up to stop me as my mouth fell open with another protest.

"Hear me out." He pressed, "We saw you working the fields as we came upon your farm. Your pack glowed with the symbols of magic as you went about your toils, am I not correct?"

"Yes, but I did not do the casting!" I cried in mounting exasperation. "The symbols are older than I am. I only spoke the words that man taught me to bring them to life."

"Understand this, then. Only one with the capacity for magic can work it. It matters little who set the original foundation of the spell. Did it never occur to you why your father had not done the work himself? You most likely inherited the ability from your mother."

The younger knight spoke to me as one might a child on the verge of throwing a tantrum. I found his insistent calmness more agitating than anything. How could I possibly be a Wielder? Such a thing was impossible. That man had never done any work because he had deemed such a thing beneath him and his high standing. There was not another explanation, right? My headache of before was now back in full force, crashing in waves behind my temples with increasing cruelty. Rubbing them slowly, I chose not to look at the men sitting in front of me in favor of the dirty wood flooring.

"Rhyce." Arrus said softly. I did not answer him, so lost was I in confusion. Calloused fingers settled under my chin and forced my gaze up to match his own.

"Rhynne…" He spoke my given name to better capture my attention. "You _are_ a Wielder. There is simply no getting around it, and you must come with us to the king. We need every pair of hands that can be gathered."

"Why keep it a secret..?" I asked out loud. None of us could be sure if I was asking about the king or my dead father.

"The war brewing is more threatening to our ways than the king can admit to his people without risking a panic. The Ugran have allied with the Unseen. Together their armies are stronger and larger than anything we have ever faced before. Without every Wielder we can muster to our side our chances of surviving the upcoming battle are almost none."

Every grim word Arrus spoke struck heavily against my heart. The Unseen and Ugran working together..? I had heard terrible tales of both races. To imagine the two coming in force as allies was enough to send a shiver of pure dread down my spine. The king was right to gather what forces he was able, but how could I be of any use to him? It did not seem possible that I could do anything but hinder the efforts regardless of my abilities as a Wielder, if in fact I had any.

"Rhynne…" Arrus spoke my name a second time, his hand still holding my chin captive. My eyes flitted up to meet his again.

"You are part of this kingdom's only hope."

The world spun at his declaration. I had no choice but to accept whatever future came to me when he spoke with such certainty.

"I cannot confirm that I am the Wielder that you believe me to be, but I will do what I can to keep this land safe." I promised softly, hoping for all our sakes that what I was able to do was enough to make a difference.

"Good." He said as he released me. I gulped softly at the weight of the promise I had just made. There was no honorable way of going back now.

"Onto lighter things!" Sarj cried loudly as the room began to fill with an almost tangible silence. I was ever grateful for his ability to brighten any room he sat in. "We must put our insufferable armor upon our backs and leave this smelly place before that seedy little inn keeper tries to make off with our purses!"

Arrus grimaced at the idea but began to do so without complaint. The two knotted each other's armor into place with the speed and efficiency that years of practice brought. I tried not to stare in disbelief as they did so. Once their armor had been placed firmly in its proper order we gathered our things and left in silence.

Back on the road we fell into silence only broken by an occasion bout of off key whistling from Sarj. The newest reveal was still bouncing about in my head as we moved on at a brisk pace. I had long grown used to the horses, though I had not been able to suppress a feeling of nervousness as I tried to think of the best way to get onto the tall creature's back. Arrus had once again gathered me up like a weightless sack of corn and sat me in the front of the saddle before I could think of anything better. My grunt of protest was the only thing to pass my lips in the next three hours.

That I was a Wielder, at least according to the king's seer, was something I had still been unable to fully process. There were very few in existence that were female, and those that were usually only held enough talent to do simple cleaning and maintenance spells. Men were always stronger Wielders. The greatest warriors in history had also been able to use magic, and I was sure that that success had been gathered in no small part because of that fact. This alone convinced me that I would be among the first to be killed once the battle started. This in itself did not worry me overly much. I had swam close to death most of my life. The idea of being found to be a woman, however, was one that meant death by far worse than sword or claw.

"I do believe that ripe smell is us!" Sarj declared so suddenly into the silence that both Arrus and I jumped in our shared saddle. The hand Arrus kept on my waist to hold me to my seat clenched painfully tight for one fast instant then let loose just as quickly. There was going to be another bruise to add to the list.

"I agree. It has been seven days at least since we found somewhere to take a proper bath." The knight behind me admitted with some embarrassment. I decided it might not be best to tell them how long it had been since my last. If memory served it was something along a month…perhaps two? There had not been an overly large amount of warm water on the mountainside, and that man had found it a waste of good firewood to heat up snow. That opinion only settled onto me, of course, so the man was always spotless in both dress and skin. To bite back the pain and use cold water was not only horribly uncomfortable but could lead to the deadly shakes that accompanied being too cold for too long. Being clean had literally been dangerous to one's life. Quite luckily for me not a lot of mold could grow in temperatures as cold as the farm had been, so I did not smell quite as terrible as I might have.

"There are bathhouses in the town upcoming if I remember correctly." Sarj offered with a grin. The act made his mustache lift up so high its tallest peaks almost touched his eyes. The hilarious sight was something I was still having trouble getting used to, and I was still wiping the tears of suppressed laughter from my cheeks when Arrus came to his decision.

"Yes, I believe I could enjoy the stop." He said with a nod. I wondered briefly if Sarj had stated his fact as a means of asking the other knight permission, and then promptly shook my head at myself. Even if Sarj was the senior of the two knights Arrus was still third prince to the king. There would always be an unspoken authority ranking between the two that would not be at once obvious to others by the way they interacted.

"A bath…with warm water?" I asked with some hope in my voice. I did not want to admit how long I had been without one, but the idea of such a treat was more than I could mask entirely.

"Of course, silly lad!" Sarj said with surprise. "Could you imagine it with anything else?"

"Yes…" I answered softly. The larger man shifted in his seat as his own oversight dawned on him.

"You're so gentle spirited I forget the hardships you've suffered… Aye, you would certainly know of cold." Sarj said with chagrin. I had no doubt that that was the closest that he could come to the words "I'm sorry" without endangering his pride. Even this watered down version was more than I was comfortable receiving from a man that had earned so much of my respect in only three days' time.

"Aye, but a strong lad such as I could suffer a dozen frozen baths with no worry!" I exclaimed in an awkward imitation of Sarj's booming voice. It was my bravest attempt at humor yet, and I found myself fearful of his offense the moment the words had begun leaving my mouth. The man stared at me with something akin to shock on his face for a long moment, and then burst into uproarious laughter.

"You…are now one…of my favorite friends..!" He managed to gasp between guffaws. Even Arrus was shaking silently behind me. I felt a huge grin spread painfully across my face at his words. I was now not only Sarj's friend but one of his favorites. The idea of having a companion of any kind was almost too much to wrap my already overwhelmed mind around.

Silence fell again as Sarj managed with some difficulty to silence his mirth, and we continued on in companionable silence. The sun was at its highest point in the sky when we came across our first true village. Even from a few hundred yards away I could see dozens of people swarming through its streets as they went about their business. The village was larger than I had expected but not as large as I had hoped. It seemed I would have to wait until we reached the castle before I was treated with the sight of a true city.

"There! The bathhouses are just so!" Sarj called out and pointed at two buildings with steam drifting out of large openings in their roofs. I instantly knew that I was looking at natural hot springs like the one I had spent my life working with. The town had more than likely grown around them as they were used for their warm properties. For a selfish moment I found myself wishing we would not go but quickly squashed the feeling down. This was no place for petty hatred. Now was a time to enjoy a luxury I had never been allowed before.

The trek down the road to the village seemed to take far longer than the hours we had spent getting there, but with the horses moving at a steady canter we were within its wooden walls quickly enough. The bathhouses were located near the center of town just as I had expected them to be. This meant that we had to go through town to get there, and that was perfectly alright with me.

"What are those?" I asked with as much nonchalance as I could manage. There were ten or so things being flown through the air by children pulling strings. Each was different and obviously homemade, but flew with a grace that was matched only by a bird's. My eyes followed a tiny, multicolored dragon as it bumped into a building and crashed delicately to the ground. The young boy that had been flying it ran to gather it up and took off, throwing it behind him. To my amazement it caught the wind and rose into the sky again.

"They're called kites." Arrus supplied from behind me. The noise of children's laughter and people bustling around with armfuls of this and that caused him to have to lean forward and speak in my ear. His breath tickled against my cheek as he spoke, and a spike of something strange turned my stomach and kicked up my breathing. The sudden reaction to his breath made me uncomfortable. Nodding my thanks to him I leaned forward just enough to be out of reach and put my focus towards the two buildings now looming ahead of us. The alien feeling subsided almost the moment he was away, so I quickly put it from my mind.

As soon as we neared the gates two stable boys jumped out to accept our horses and welcome us with grins that sparkled on dirty faces. They twittered in awe over the majestic horses we rode and chattered with even larger joy at the shiny coppers they were given for their service. Faces glowing with the happiness of untroubled youth, they lead our mounts away and left us to a little old woman who had come more slowly behind them.

"Well met strangers," The woman said in a voice that was surprisingly clear and loud for someone of her apparent age. "I am Madam Trout, and I will be your humble hostess for your stay here. The baths are always open without charge to those that serve the king."

"Thank you, Madam." Arrus said with a bow of his head. The three of us made to enter behind the large open entrance behind her when she held up a single small hand.

"I am afraid that your servant is not free if he plans to join you. The master is very particular that _only_ knights be given free admittance." Madam Trout explained with some embarrassment. It would seem she did not agree with the master's rules, but it was her job to uphold them.

"Your master is a stingy one." Sarj grumbled as he pulled out a silver crown and placed it into her hand. She nodded without expression and beckoned us to follow her.

The bath houses were enormous. Much larger than our simple shed, that was for certain. Just inside the main building's ornately carved front gate was a courtyard of stone and manmade waterfalls. A sheet of water fell from a single slit in the wall of each side of the room, the base a steaming pool with potted foliage and flowers surrounding it. The sounds of the three fountains were surprisingly tranquil with their constant murmuring. I found that I liked this hot spring.

"The men's spring is this way." Madam Trout said briskly. Suddenly it occurred to me that if I must pose as a man that I would have to bathe with them as well. A rush of heat that had nothing to do with the overly warm air wafting in from the room we were heading towards quickly spread across my face and down my neck. It was one thing to share a room with these men but to share a bath?

"Excuse me, madam, but are there any smaller hot springs for a single person?" I asked with as much respect as I could possibly place in a single sentence. The elder woman stopped and started at me blankly.

"Your servant is quite outspoken." She stated simply.

"He is not our servant." Arrus stated frostily. "He is my squire, and if he would like a bath to himself let him have it."

"Of course," Madam Trout replied without breaking stride. "I should have realized. Allow me to show you to your bathing room, and then I shall escort your squire to one of the two private pools."

Moments later the two knights bid me farewell, and I was ushered towards a small curtain at the end of the same hall. Behind the thick red fabric was a pool no larger than the one I had tended to on the mountain.

"Enjoy, squire. If you need anything give that bell a pull."

The madam disliked me a great deal and did little to hide her sniff of disapproval, but I cared little. The moment she had left I peeled the fabric of my clothing from my skin until I was bare and placed a foot into the pool. To flesh unused to warmth the heat of the water was painfully intense for several moments. With gritted teeth I kept my foot there and allowed it to grow somewhat used to the burning water. Once able to tolerate at least that much of it I took a steadying breath and walked straight into the water until it reached the top of my chest. When I had gone far enough I knew that going in all at once had been the right thing to do. The dragon's fire that now enveloped my body would have been like torture to deal with a little at a time. After some time the burning ebbed and became relaxing. When I was certain my skin was still attached to my body I made my way across to the little box of cleaning oils by the west lid of the pool.

The bottles inside were vaguely labeled and much the same in color and size.

"Well then…perhaps this one?" I spoke aloud to myself as I lifted a bottle labeled "upper" and poured some of its contents onto my hands. It turned out that it was a flowery scented soup that lathered when I wet it and rubbed it between my hands. I used that to wash the grime from my arms, face, and chest. It took several handfuls and the work of a wash cloth I was able to dig out of the box to get my skin the proper color. It was actually a bit frightening to find just how much lighter my skin was under the caking of dirt. Once done I tested each bottle until I found what I thought must be soup for hair and scrubbed it into my stringy locks. The water was starting to become a little darker in hue at this point. With that task finished I bobbed my head in and out of the water, trying to rinse the bubbles away. On the fifth dunk I felt it had worked enough to stop.

My washing continued in this manor until I was raw and pink from at least an hour of scrubbing. With all of the grime and dirt that had left me I felt I must be at least five pounds lighter. When finally finished I pulled myself wearily from the pool that now felt only warm to me and put on the robe that had been already been laid out waiting for the next visitor when I had been ushered into the room. The soft cotton clung to my wet skin as I pulled it on but I had nothing with which to dry off so I paid little attention. I had only just tied its knot when a sharp knock startled me so strongly I nearly fell back into the hot spring.

"Are you still alive, boy?" Sarj's merry voice invaded the calm air.

"Yes! I will be out in a moment!" I called as I gathered my still filthy clothing into a tight ball. I was reluctant to have to put it back on again, but at least the skin beneath it would be clean. Making sure I was not forgetting anything important like a sock I pulled the curtain back and joined my companions outside.

The two men were wet haired and also wearing robes were they stood waiting for me. At the sight of me their expressions changed drastically.

"Shit..!" Sarj breathed. His face was as red as his damp mustache. I only stared at him in mounting confusion. Arrus had not said anything but his body was held as stiffly as a wooden plank, and his eyes were fixed somewhere below my face.

"What..?" I asked with growing frustration at the strangeness of their behavior. Neither of them answered me.

"_What?!_" I demanded again. This peculiar situation was starting to make me angry.

"We need to get you dirty again." Came Arrus' only response.

* * *

**Ok... so this one had a bit of fun in it didn't it? I pray you enjoyed it! Keep me updated on your opinions! Also I would like to thank a specific reviewer, Pitard, who gave me part of my inspiration for the ending of this one... Thank you all for every kind word you've blessed me with! I'll begin writing the next chapter tomorrow!**


	5. Chapter 5

_There had never been such a thing as vanity in my life. The word itself I had not learned the meaning of until the age of seventeen. To value one's appearance over survival was an idea that I could not come close to understanding. That man had been vain, I realized. Everything about his life, from the crop I raised for him to his spotless, opulent clothing, had been purely to inflate his already enormous ego. The day that I die I wish to be called many things: friend, companion, loyal, and maybe even mother. To be called "vain", however, would be the ultimate insult. _

Five

"Excuse me?" I asked, uncomprehending.

"You look…how do I say this...your che…" Sarj stumbled over his words, still staring at the ground,

"You look too much a woman." Arrus cut in for him. Sarj only became redder in the face.

"Too much of a..?" I repeated slowly and cast my eyes down at my own chest. My breasts, though small, were no less obvious with my robe stuck against my bare skin as a bull hiding in a pig pen. For the first time in my life I looked without doubt every bit the female I had always been. A fear of being found out gnawed deep in my belly, and with it came a sense of mortification of being seen. My hands lifted to wrap around my chest as an attempt to hide it.

"Yes, we must!" I exclaimed emphatically. Sarj nodded roughly, already turning around to lead us out, but Arrus put out a hand and stopped him.

"There is a better solution." He said softly.

"Yes! We can cut them off!" I exclaimed, wanting to be completely rid of the cursed things.

"Don't be a fool! If we win this war what will you do if you've gone and done such a thing? How would you take a husband?" Arrus asked in shock. Clearly, that had not been even remotely close to what his idea was. I shrugged my shoulders at him.

"I hardly believe I'm going to survive this war, and I'm not the sort of person a man would want to take as a wife anyway." I answered firmly. I cared little if I was being rational. Fear of death by quartering was greater than fear of living alone.

"You're a peculiar girl…" Arrus said softly, staring down at me with an unreadable expression, then shook his head. "No, my solution will cover up your gender without maiming you. We simply bind your chest and put your layers back on. You will be bathed at the castle, so hiding it with only dirt and layers won't work. We will think of a way to convince the king to give you a room of your own so that you might have privacy on our way to the castle. "

As he spoke my desperation calmed. All my life I had been seen as a boy, and now that my true gender was obvious for all to see I felt fatally exposed. The prince's idea was much less painful and permanent than my own irrational brain had thought up, however, so I nodded readily enough. Arrus looked relieved that I let my first suggestion go and told us both to wait for him while he asked the hostess for something. After he left the silence between the still bothered Sarj, who was at least no longer red, and I grew painfully long.

"Underneath all the filth yer not that plain ya'know…" Sarj said softly after what felt like an eternity. The compliment was a bit backhanded but more than I had ever been paid by a man before. Face red from the embarrassment of it I nodded my thanks and continued to shift from foot to foot without talking. Sarj sighed heavily and fiddled with his mustache.

"I've no skill with talkin' to ladies." He admitted after another long pause. I glanced up to find him staring firmly somewhere above my head. "I must admit I was beginnin' to forget that you were a lass."

It seemed that when Sarj grew uncomfortable his accent became a bit more pronounced. Under different conditions I might have found this hilarious but not now that it was caused by me. I did not like this reaction from him at all. Why should he have to talk to me any differently than he always has? A new feeling of anger furrowed my brow.

"Stop it!" I demanded. "I am not any less the person I was only minutes ago. To treat me differently now is rude. What happened to me being your new favorite friend?"

With my final question I lifted my hand and tugged sharply on his mustache. With a grunt of surprise his gaze finally settled on my face. At the sight of my look of hurt his expression grew sheepish.

"I'm sorry, Rhynne…" He apologized, "Yer right. I have to get used to you bein' a girl, that's for sure, but yer no better or worse than the filthy little runt we saved from that mountain."

"And don't you forget that!" I said with a shaky laugh. The large man joined me with a hearty guffaw of his own just as Arrus bustled back into the hall.

"Alright, take these and follow me." The prince mandated as he shoved straps of clothing into my hands. "Sarj, you stay here or wait in the courtyard."

Without another word I was pushed out the door and down a second hallway.

"Rhynne, you have two choices. You can put these on yourself, or you can have me help you. The hostess cannot know you for your gender. She knows too many that reside in the king's court. I interrogated her as I requested for bandages for 'Sarj's still healing battle wound'." Arrus spoke as we walked passed one room then another. The idea of him seeing my bare chest had my decision made long before he was finished explaining how he had gone about getting what I needed.

"I will do it myself!" I said in a rush as he came to a halt at the third door. He nodded in understanding without even pausing for breath.

"Then I will wait out here. There is a mirror in the corner of this room. It's put aside for court ladies that need to reapply make-up after taking their baths. When you've got the bandages in place put your layers back on. We will see how your look then." Arrus instructed firmly, pointing first to the large mirror in the right corner of the wide room and then to the door where he would be waiting. I appreciated his briskness more than he would ever know. It helped keep me grounded as I dealt with the situation at hand.

"I will see you soon, then." I murmured as he closed the door behind him. Once alone I took a brief moment to look around. The room was simple in furnishings with two tiny couches along each wall for sitting and a single counter for placing your possessions. The mirror was by far the most demanding part of the room. Huge and ornate, the steel framed glass was twice as tall as I was and four times as wide. Its frame, beautiful and simple, curved and tangled almost as if it were meant to represent waves. These sights I only took in for a moment, however, because as I drew into view of my own refection I froze in incomprehension at what I saw.

Before me, without doubt, stood the frame of a young woman. In the tight embrace of the robe curves I had never known existed were there for all to see. My hips, slender and petite, sloped inward delicately only to widen again at my chest. The breasts there were little more than round lumps behind the fabric and yet were unmistakable for what they were. My arms and legs were tight with lean muscle from my years of toil and my hair choppy from my clumsy hacking. The now clean locks that had only just grown passed my eyes were a dark, rich red. Against my pale skin the color was almost shocking, though not quite so much so as the ice blue eyes staring widely from behind my bangs. My features were sharp; cheekbones high and lips thick and red as if stung by bees, nose almost too long and slender, and eyes so almond they were almost pointed at each end.

I had never met such a perfect stranger in my life. A sad part of me wondered if my mother had looked much like this girl.

After a long moment of blank staring I finally remembered why I was here. With shaking hands I removed my robe and took one last glance in the mirror. When had I grown such a shape? How, now that even I could see it, was I supposed to hide it? Pushing the grim questions from my mind I gathered the bandages and wrapped them tightly around my chest, taking care to take in some air and hold it so that I would not make them too binding. When I was finished I looked back at the mirror and started to believe that all might not be lost. My chest was completely flat again, and I not uncomfortable under the wrappings. The only way to tell now as to strip me bare. No amount of wrapping could hide the missing piece between my legs.

_Still, _I thought to myself reassuringly as I began pulling on my dirty clothing. _There will be no reason for anyone to go to such measures at the castle. My secret will be safe so long as I am careful._

When finished I knocked on the door. It opened almost immediately to reveal Arrus's impatient expression.

"I was another minute away from coming in." He warned with annoyance. I grew red in the face at the seriousness of his words. At least the prince did not seem to have Sarj's trouble with my body. Perhaps his uncaring attitude meant that he saw me as genderless? The idea sat funny in my chest, but I let it go without delving deeper.

"You look…better; less obvious at least." He continued with some satisfaction in his voice. Reaching out he lifted a lock of my hair.

"I had been expecting it to be black." He murmured, and then let it go again. "We need to

trim it shorter. It's been a few weeks since you've done so, yes? It's getting too long. Come."

Again he motioned me to follow him, and I did so without protest. He led me back to Sarj quickly. Sarj took one look at me and sighed with what seemed like relief. Now that I had seen myself clearly I understood his embarrassment and grew red for what seemed the tenth time in the last half hour. I cursed myself for having been born a girl. So many things could have been easier in this situation.

"Sit." Arrus ordered as he took Sarj's witling dagger and pulled a bench from the wall to place firmly in front of me. I worried only once at his skills as I obeyed and then stopped caring. The rougher it looked the better my identity was hidden anyway. Perhaps he would make a mistake and even have to shear my hair off entirely. The idea of being bald made me giggle before I could stop it.

"Quit that. Boys don't giggle." Arrus admonished curtly as he moved to stand behind me and lifted the first lock of my hair. He worked with firm but gentle hands and soon the ground began to gather pieces of my hair. I found the repetitive tug and slice of the blade to be relaxing. After several minutes Arrus ran his hand through my now shorter hair to check his work. His fingers slid over the nape of my neck, took one pass down my right shoulder, and then were gone. His palm was warm and large, and I found that his touch had raised the flesh on my arms and neck. I had never been touched that way before. The prince's hand had almost seemed tender as it had moved over my skin.

"What's wrong, Rhyce?" Arrus asked as he came around from behind me and saw my face. I realized then that tears had leaked unbidden from my eyes.

"Nothing, it's just that I've never had a friend to look after me." I answered him honestly. Wiping the moisture away and bowing deeply I addressed them both. "I thank you for every kindness you have shown me. With hard work I fully intend to repay you for each one two fold."

"Now see here!" Sarj blustered, "There's no such need for that!"

"Sarj is right, Rhyce. We do not help you with repayment in mind." Arrus said with a soft smile. I bowed deeper, noticing not for the first time that Arrus seemed to be making a point of saying my false name as many times as possible.

"Then I swear loyalty to you both. I will do whatever is in my power to serve and protect both of you as well as this kingdom."

At first I had sworn out of a sense of duty towards the king that had sent his knights to save me. Now I swore because he had given me a much greater gift than life. He had given me the opportunity to find peace with myself and the harsh world in which I lived. Perhaps the king was a cold man that did not treat his own son with love, and maybe his was not the best rule that this kingdom had known, but he had done that for me at least. This was more than enough reason for me to fight and die.

"Enough of that. Stand up and face us, boy." Arrus commanded. I immediately obeyed with a grin so large it hurt my unpracticed cheeks.

"Shall we be off, then? The lass is disguised enough. There's naught much we can do to hide those fine features, but not all boys are rugged." Sarj said with a chuckle. Still caught up in my own emotions I stuck my tongue out at him and earned a clap on the shoulder for my mischief. Arrus rolled his eyes at the two of us but ruffled my hair and nodded.

Within the next hour we were back on the road towards the castle. We were only one day's ride away now. As we rode on the vision of the hostess's shock when she saw my newly pale skin and hair swam before my eyes. The men had shared a laugh at her expense once she was out of earshot. I had not been able to blame her. Mine had been quite the transformation. Still, her stuttered words as she bid us farewell made me chuckle every few minutes or so for hours afterwards.

Dark clouds began to gather in the distance as the day drew to an end. By the time we stopped to take up camp a light rain had begun to wet the land. I had never experienced rain before, and found myself staring up in awe at the little droplets as they fell onto my face and shoulders. I had believed anything that fell from the sky could only be unpleasant, but the water that was slowly soaking me then was warm and gentle. As the men put up our shelter I could not help but laugh and jump in the muddy puddles that were gathering on the ground.

"Hey! You'll catch yer death if you don't come in and sit by the fire! And stop jumping in the puddles!" Sarj called out just as I landed with an impressive splash in the largest pool yet. Laughing breathlessly I ran to them and sank down without grace before the fire.

"Isn't this just amazing?" I asked through excited panting as I shook what was left of my hair out. Sarj and Arrus exchanged a baffled look.

"What?" I asked more calmly as I realized that I was the only one feeling so much excitement.

"There's a lot you haven't had the chance to experience, isn't there?" Arrus said slowly, staring at me as if for the first time. I looked back wide eyed. His dark eyes bore into my own as if searching for something I did not understand. Whether he found it or not, I could never be sure, but he released me after a moment to put his attentions back on the rabbit he was skinning. Releasing the breath I had not known I was holding I shrugged.

"I have only ever known the mountain. There is no such thing as rain there." I said apologetically. I felt as if I had been acting like a fool running around like that. My skin was dirty again with mud, too. I might as well have not spent their silver to bathe.

The three of us fell quiet as the fire crackled. Arrus finished with the rabbit and seasoned it lightly with salt from his pack. In the quiet I studied his features more closely. His dark eyes were not as black as they seemed, I was mildly surprised to observe. In the glistening light of the fire they glowed a rich brown, like the color of the melted chocolate we used to decorate cakes for that man's guests. His cheek bones were high and sharp, the line of his left cheek marred with a faint scar that ran from the top of his cheek bone to his chin. The line was so thin it had escaped my notice all this time. His hair was black as night, so black it reflected dark blue in the flickering glow of the fire. Altogether with his slightly crooked nose, no doubt from being broken more than once, his face was an unflinching mask. In all the time I had known him I had never once been able to say completely what the young man might be thinking, and yet I knew enough to say that he was capable both of cruelty and of gentility. With sudden realization I knew I did not fear him. Somewhere along the line both of these men, hard and strong from a lifetime of fighting, had earned my trust.

"Are you quite done?" Arrus spoke up suddenly. His voice made me jump and pulled me back into reality.

"I'm sorry!" I answered quickly with a lie. "I was only trying to decide if I should wash off the mud on my boots."

"I do believe that to be shit." He answered, somehow sounding regal despite his profanity. "Why were you staring at me?"

I did not much know the answer myself.

"Leave the lass be, Arrus. She was probably trying to count in her head the seconds until that tiny little rabbit was done on the spit." Sarj cut in, effectively saving me from a response. The prince huffed indignantly and immediately started arguing over how much meat is enough for one man's meal. I sighed in relief. Truly, I had meant no harm in staring, and yet when he asked me to explain I had had no words. It seemed I was not quite ready to open up to even myself just yet, but I knew it would come in time. Perhaps I would even find friends among the boys that were chosen along with me.

"…you'd be good to remember to call her 'boy' and 'he', also. _He_ is not supposed to be a girl." Arrus was chastising. I smiled at them both as they continued to banter. Yes, time would heal all. With that man dead there could only be better life to live.

Once finished with supper we bundled up in our furs and slept for the night. The morning brought with it a watery sky and muddy roads, but the rain had gone. Gathering our things and saddling the horses was a bit trickier when everything was laden with moisture, but we succeeded after many curses and were soon on our way again. With every hour of travel that passed I felt a mixture of dread and excitement grow in my gut. The kingdom would be on the horizon by noon, and we would be crossing the draw bridge before the sun was finished setting. As we drew closer I noticed also that the men were becoming less spirited. It was as if the time for light banter was leaving. I did not like this change in them.

"There it is, Rhyce, yer new home." Sarj spoke after many hours of silence. In front of us, still several hours away, stood the tiny silhouette of what I knew to be an enormous castle. My chest constricted, though with fear or happiness I could not say.

"When we arrive we will be summoned before the king. You are to kneel and never stand until he commands you to. Do not make eye contact with him or address him by any name but 'your majesty' or 'my king'." Arrus began instructing. "Answer any question he may have quickly and completely. Finally, do _not_ say anything that might anger him. You may be his only hope to save the kingdom, but he is a man of great pride and will punish you for insolence without hesitation. Do you understand?"

"I do." I whispered, my throat suddenly dry. Swallowing painfully I held onto the saddle with white knuckles.

"Don't be afraid, Rhynne." Arrus murmured in my ear as his hand squeezed my side reassuringly. "I will be by your side as long as I can be."

Finding comfort in this promise I allowed myself to relax a little. The king seemed to be a frightening man, but so long as I was not alone entirely I felt less fear of what might be to come.

The day went on without any more conversation, and the tiny castle in the distance slowly grew to tower over us. Sprawled out before it in a maze of buildings both short and tall was Argist, the king's city. The town we had passed through before had been what I thought was busy, but now I knew I had been naïve to believe so. Thousands of people crowded every street as they went about their daily lives. Children, wild and laughing, chased each other through the streets while harassed mothers called after them angrily. Men in shiny armor walked the streets keeping order to the chaos and watching out for anyone who might try and make off with a purse. At our approach two shiny guards saluted us and clicked their heels together.

"The king is awaiting your arrival! Please go to the castle with no delay!" The man said through his helmet piece. I pitied him the heat he must feel in all that metal.

"Well met, guardsman. We will make our way to him immediately." Arrus answered him with a bow of his head. His voice was suddenly deeper, more aloof, as he spoke. It occurred to me that he might put on airs for those people beneath his position and felt glad that I had met the true Arrus long before arriving here. Dealing with the arrogance he was so suddenly displaying would have made the whole journey insufferable.

Without even a second glance from both men we traveled on. The crowds parted as fluidly as water as we passed and quickly closed up again behind us. My companion's armor was unmistakably that of the king's guard and none dared get in their way. With little warning one small child brazenly danced up and offered me a tiny daisy. The girl did not look any older than six or seven and beamed up at me as only children of that age could. I took the flower almost unconsciously, staring wide eyed at the brave little girl as Arrus halted our progression.

"It's for luck." She said just as her mother broke through the crowd and scooped her up.

"She's on'y a child she don' know better!" She cried in panic as she backed away.

"Put it in your hair, boy. It's a token of esteem to receive a flower from a lass." Sarj boomed merrily from his mount and started forward again. Lifted onto her mother's shoulders as she was I could still see the little girl as she was being carried away. Smiling at her gratefully I tucked the thin stem behind my right ear. The child grinned gleefully and disappeared down an alleyway with her mother.

"Most of the king's subjects are wary of his guards, but toddlers are ever full of surprises." Arrus said just loud enough for my ears to pick up. I nodded in agreement without glancing back.

"It suits you." He said even more quietly. It was so soft in fact that I wondered if I had really heard him say it at all. We continued on without any further discussion.

The city of Argist was in fact so large and so populated with people that it took the better part of another hour to finally reach the outer wall of the castle. Even before we stopped at the great iron gate the stone wall towered over our heads by the height of at least two fully grown men. The gate was the only entrance into the castle beyond and was so heavy it took four men working together to turn the wheels that lifted it. The moment the guard recognized the prince the order to open it was barked, and the armored men began their laborious task. Within a minute or two the door was open and we were ushered quickly through. Once we were clear the metal door slammed down with enough force to shake the ground. Our horses, far used to worse surprises, did not even grunt.

The courtyard leading to the castle's front doors was at least a hundred yards long, and once there our horses were quickly ushered away by much more solemn stable boys that politely refused a tip from Sarj. I found that the castle was not my favorite place of those we had seen in our riding. Everything seemed so tightly knit, so organized and under control. I felt for the first time that I might be exchanging one prison for another. Still, in this one I would not be forced to work fields of frozen flowers. It seemed the lesser of two evils by far.

"The king has been informed of your arrival and awaits you in his throne room." A man dressed in clothing much like I had seen on our visitors at the farm said with a bow. It seemed that this man was a servant of some kind, though I had no idea what his duties might be. Such clothing did not seem well suited to any sort of real work.

"Thank you." Arrus said with a wave of his hand and, placing the other lightly on the small of my back, ushered me into the castle. The first thing I saw was the color purple. It was everywhere. The wood beneath our feet had been stained with it. The walls of the large room we stood in were covered on all sides with purple tapestries of various designs and shades. At the invasion of my least favorite color my stomach twisted in disgust. Even the fire burning on the torches lining the great hall was magicked to appear like living amethyst. I had had some misgivings about the building before entering, but now I simply hated everything about the place.

"This way." Arrus said curtly and steered me towards a large tapestry in the right wall that turned out to be an enormous open door. The fabric covering it was so light it was a wonder it did not float away with the next passing breeze.

Beyond it was a hall blessedly free of that atrocious color. It seemed to wrap around the entire castle with many doors leading into other unknown rooms and corridors. It would be just as easy to be lost forever in these halls as in the city, it seemed. I foresaw having to find my way back to where I started at least twice in the next months. After what seemed like far too short a walk we arrived at a door larger and more opulently designed than all others. I wondered briefly why the king's throne room was so far from the entrance and then quickly understood that it would give ill-intentioned intruders more trouble in finding him. The king was clever, if not also terrifyingly single-minded.

Arrus rapped sharply on the door. The sound his knuckles produced echoed throughout the entire hall eerily. It certainly sounded like the tolling of my one doom. Shaking my head I shoved my increasingly morbid thoughts from my head. I had been saved by the king's orders. He cares for his country enough to gather us. Such a man cannot possibly be entirely bad.

"Enter." A rumbling voice replied from the room beyond. Mouth dry, I forced myself to swallow the lump in my throat.

"My king, I have brought with me the boy you requested." Arrus spoke loudly as he pushed me forward. I kept my head down and eyes trained on the floor as we approached the man sitting on the throne not twenty feet from us.

After what seemed like an eternity, in which I felt the eyes of a dozen people standing silently in the room, we reached the steps that lead to the throne. Somehow the three of us managed to kneel as one, though I did not like at all that I was the point of our triangle. A rustling filled the hall as the king rose to his feet. From my position I could see little more than his ankles, but what I did see was the very opposite from what I had expected. The king was fat. His shoes, studded with jewels and dyed royal purple, strained to hold in his swollen feet. His ankles jiggled as if even a bit more pressure would cause disaster. The king descended the steps from his throne, allowing more of him to come into sight. Should a man of such weight wear tights? It did not seem as if he cared that his thighs made a peculiar squeaking sound as they rubbed together.

"This is the boy? He hardly seems like a warrior." The king rumbled. His voice rivaled that of Sarj.

"He is stronger than he appears, your highness. The boy has lived his life on a farm." Arrus spoke up for me.

"Seer." The king barked.

"Yes, my king." A woman's lilting voice seemed to float through the air in response.

"Perform the test."

"Yes, my king." The woman answered again.

For several moments no sound broke the quiet in the room. Then, without any sort of warning, something struck my back.

"Ah…" I gasped, looking down at the sword point protruding from my chest. When had that happened?

"What have you done?!" Arrus's cry of outrage only barely broke through the roaring that had begun in my ears. The world around me had started to go fuzzy around the edges. Without much thought in the action I wrapped my hands around the blade.

_Strange. There's a lot of blood. _My eyes saw the crimson liquid dripping from the steel, and it dawned on me that it was my own. _Why doesn't it hurt..?_

The sword hummed in my hands with something familiar. For a delirious moment I tried to figure out where I had felt it before. As darkness began to envelope my eyes and I fell onto my side I felt large hands start to pull the sword from my flesh. I had to stop that, I decided. I had not figured out why the steel seemed so similar. The hands tugged harder. Now this simply would not do. With a gurgled protest I shoved weakly at the palms trying to break my concentration.

_Aha! _My thoughts suddenly danced with excitement at my understanding. It was the water sprayer. The metal hummed with the same energy as the water sprayer had when I brought it to life with those meaningless words. Now what had those been..? My limbs were beginning to go numb now, and I registered enraged shouting from what felt like far away from me. With the very last ounce of my strength I spoke the words that that man had taught me to speak by heart almost before I had been able to walk.

_"Dou Rahn Beir"_

Unconsciousness came with a sense of release. A smiled tugged at my lips as my breath fell from my lungs for the last time. There was neither pain nor fear, only an overwhelming desire to sleep. Without any resistance I allowed the feeling to envelop me. As if pulled by an invisible force I sank into a deep pool of liquid darkness that promised without words to never let me free.

* * *

**I AM SO SORRY! So many things have happened, and my greatest regret is making you all wait so long! I hope you can forgive me! I will not let you down again as those things that were stopping me from writing are gone! Please be gentle! I hope you think the chapter was worth the wait!**


	6. Chapter 6

_The Reaper had never been a stranger to my life on that mountain. The cold would creep into your bones and steal away any memory of warmth. The worst days were those in which death and I worked the fields side by side, his freezing presence more real and terrifying than I could ever begin to describe. It was in that way that I learned how mortal man truly was, and how one mistake might cause the Reaper to reach out his hand and touch you. _

Six

Time was different in the darkness that swallowed me. Without my senses to help me count I could have been floating in the void an eternity or a single moment when I noticed something was beginning to interrupt the Nothing. Warmth, starting in my fingertips, appeared at the same moment I realized that I had hands. It moved up my arms, gathering speed as it spread, and soon I was discovering each body part as if for the first time. Once my entire body had been found the temperature began to increase, become uncomfortable. I scrunched my nose in distaste.

"Rhyce?"

I knew that voice. Memory swam to the front of my mind as if tugged by a string. That voice belonged to Arrus, and he sounded worried. Why would that be, I wondered. All was well as far as I could recall. We had made it to the king's castle, had even gone so far as his throne room. Something hot and red flashed before my vision. There had been blood. Had it been my own or had Arrus been injured..?

"He seems to be coming back to us."

The voice that spoke now sent a spike of fear down my spine. It belonged to the Seer. Cloudy images of a sword through my chest, my life's blood staining the floor, wobbled into my brain. The king had ordered her to perform some sort of test. Why had she stabbed me? Was that the test? If so it did not seem to be a very well thought out one. A dull throbbing broke my train of thought. My chest was sore, and I started to lift my hand to rub the tender flesh but it only twitched slightly at my demand. It seemed I still had yet to regain the strength to move.

"Rhyce!" Arrus called again, relief coloring his tone. I hated to hear him so upset.

"Stop scowlin' so hard you'll give yerself wrinkles before you hit twenty-five!"

That was Sarj. Even he sounded pleased. Had I truly caused them so much worry? By now the darkness had lost its depth and had almost entirely receded. Feeling was fast returning, and I wished it would slow down. Every heartbeat caused a surging of pain in my chest and back, and the blankets covering me were insufferably stuffy. Underneath them I could feel that I was wearing only my first layer of clothing. Realizing this I was suddenly glad to be stuffy in return for privacy. My three guardians began to argue among themselves as the glue of exhaustion holding my eyes shut began to loosen.

"What sort of despicable test was that anyway?" Arrus demanded. "What if he had not recognized the spell?"

"Then the child would have died." The seer said simply. The lack of remorse in her voice sent a shiver down my spine. I decided I would keep my eyes closed a little while longer and let the discussion continue.

"This war is too important for you to be risking our only chance like that! There are other ways you can find magic in a person!"

"You're not incorrect. I could have had the child perform a small healing spell or bewitch a broom to start sweeping the floor, but we are not searching for parlor tricks. The runes carved into the sword were purposely laid down in such a way that only one of true potential could activate them. If the child had not already had the makings of a powerful Wielder the spell would have failed."

"You and my father disgust me! I have always known him to be empty-hearted, but not to be a murderer!"

"Watch your tongue. Your father is still the king."

"To hell with the king and to you!"

"Arrus…" Sarj cut in gently.

"Leave us, Seer. I do not want to see your face a moment longer." Arrus said. His voice had suddenly lost all of its anger and now sounded simply exhausted.

"As you say, your highness." The woman said coolly before drifting away with the sound of shifting fabric. Deciding then that it was time to open my eyes I cracked them a bit against the purple light of the torches on the wall. Once my eyes had adjusted some I opened them entirely and tried with slowly increasing success to focus on the men standing to my left.

"I…do not like…her…" I choked out roughly. My throat felt as if it were coated in a layer of cotton.

"Wha-" Sarj began, but the prince cut him off.

"How long have you been awake?" Arrus demanded. Taken aback by the fast return of his temper I could only stare with wide eyes.

"Did you hear me?" He asked, reaching out with both hands to grip my shoulders.

"I…since…you said my name." I struggled to answer.

"What were you thinking!? Why would you try and stop me from taking the blade out? Why didn't you speak immediately when you woke up?"

He shook me, bringing a fresh spike of pain through my chest. I gasped involuntarily but had no strength to fight him. His face froze at the sound, and his hands loosened their grip but did not let go. For a long moment he seemed to be wrestling with something within himself until finally his face settled back into its usual mask.

"You worried us both." He said simply before releasing me.

"Don't listen to his fallacies! The boy was beside himself until he realized that yer magic mutterings had started the sword to healing you." Sarj boomed merrily. He started to clap me on the shoulder but, realizing the discomfort that would cause, settled for a pat on my head.

"The sword…was healing me? How long was I…" I asked in shock.

"What you said started a spell etched into the metal. When you got it going the blade began working its way backwards out of your back, healing its damage as it went. The Seer avoided your heart and lungs on purpose but hit one of your blood wells. You were only another minute or two from bleeding out in my arms. To answer the other question you were unconscious a few hours." Arrus explained emotionlessly. If I had not felt his hands shaking as they held my shoulders I might have been fooled into believing that he was not angered by this. Feeling as if he was hiding his worries for my sake filled me with warmth. Arrus truly was an amazing friend to have made.

"Thank you, Arrus...and Sarj, too." I said with the deepest of gratitude and lifted a heavy hand to lie on top of Arrus's. To Sarj, who was too far away to touch, I sent the biggest smile I could muster.

"Don't be stupid. There's nothing to thank us for." Arrus said stiffly, but did not pull his hand out from under mine.

"Aye, there's no reason to be going soft on us." Sarj boomed. His ears had turned a tad pink.

"How are you feeling? Can you sit up?" The prince asked as if to change the subject. I nodded hesitantly and attempted to lift my own weight to little success. He moved to assist me, lifting me under my arms gently and settling me against the wall.

With a better view of my surroundings I could now see that I was painfully seated on a small bed in what had to be a maid's chambers. Covering me were at least three wool blankets of varying size and make, and behind my back was a giant, handmade goose feather pillow. The stone walls were bare except for the far right corner which housed a small wooden dresser full of what I assumed to be the maid's clothing. On either side of us one purple torch flickered, casting a moving but consistently bright light throughout the room. To my left stood Arrus and Sarj, dressed now in a less bulky sort of armor I could only imagine was designed for wearing indoors. The design of it, with its many hinges and plates, certainly did not look any more comfortable even if it was a bit easier to move in.

"May I look at your back?" Arrus inquired softly. I shrugged consent. There was no harm if it was my back.

Helping me lean forward, a process that had to be done one inch at a time, the prince lifted my tunic with one hand and angled me towards the light for a better view. His fingers were surprisingly warm as they made contact with my skin, tracing something I could not see. I could feel him beginning to shake again as Sarj let out a low whistle.

"The magic healed you but didn't care to be gentle about it." The large man said sadly. "You've a scar. Cut straight through yer bandages, too. It's a miracle nobody noticed with all of the fuss going on."

"My father's expression never changed." Arrus's breath fanned out across my neck and raising goose flesh down my arms as he spoke. "He only ordered that you be carried away and your mess be cleaned up."

Without another word Arrus carefully tucked the fabric back down over my new wound. I had many scars, mostly on my arms and hands, so the knowledge of one more did little to bother me. What did bother me was the look of hatred in the prince's eyes as he came back around to look at me. It was not right that he should have to feel such a thing. I wanted to make him smile. With no idea how to achieve that want I could do nothing but sit and feel useless.

A knock on the chamber door made us all jump. The woman that entered without waiting for an invitation could only have been the Seer. Arrus stiffened at her approach, but she waved a calming hand at him.

"The king has sent me to express his content that this child has passed the test. I am to take her to her first training session with the others." The woman spoke firmly. Her voice seemed less like a voice and more like a chiming of bells. It was as deceiving in its pleasantness as her beauty was. Every feature on her face was perfect, as if sculpted by the gods themselves. Her hair, as white as fresh snow, billowed behind her in a waterfall of waves that ended at her ankles, and her curves were so pronounced that there was no mistaking her for the woman that she was. Everything about this woman invited you in, told you that if you wanted to you could experience pleasure more profound than one could ever imagine. Then your gaze fell on her eyes, black as night and just as devoid of warmth, and you knew instantly that it was all a trick. They shown with a deep intelligence that seemed to look straight into your soul, and their stare made no such promises of happiness if one dared to fall victim to her charm. Right then those eyes had settled on me, her full lips curving up in a smile that did not reach the black orbs above.

"He is in no position to be taught, thanks to your attack." Arrus stated firmly while moving to stand in front of me.

"The child does not have any choice in the matter. The king wills it." The Seer said sweetly. I hated this woman and her false kindness almost as much as I hated the man that had raised me.

"Then allow us to help him ready himself." Sarj spoke quickly as Arrus opened his mouth. "Where is he to be taken?"

"The tournament grounds in the rear of the castle. The child must be there within the hour." She replied. Her eyes never left my face though she was clearly responding to Sarj.

"Consider it done." He said with a nod. The Seer dipped her head in acknowledgement and left just as quickly as she came. The layers of pale blue silk she wore gave the illusion she was floating away rather than walking.

The moment she was gone Arrus turned on Sarj.

"You could have fought her a little more than that. Rhyce is obviously not able to do any sort of training today." Arrus said. His voice cut the air like a blade. I found myself more and more relieved that I stood on his good side the longer I knew him.

"Aye, but the king is still the king, and whether you like it or not we must obey. Fighting him will only cause more hardship for the lass. You know what happened the last time you-"

"Enough!" Arrus cut him off, "If she must be there within the hour then so be it, but we will _not_ allow her to go unprepared."

With an angry shake of his head Arrus left the room briskly only to return with fresh bandages a few minutes later. One meaningful look had Sarj turning to face the far wall, though I could not fathom what about their silent conversation could turn his ears red. It was not until Arrus turned his gaze to mine and allowed his face to grow less severe that I realized what he thought had to be done. Mortification filled my belly at the thought of him seeing even half of my bare body, and I shook my head no.

"Please," I croaked, "Let me try, first."

He handed me the bandages without resistance and joined Sarj's side. Taking a pained breath I gripped the end of my bloody tunic and forced my arms to lift it over my head. The ruined wrappings I had had on fell down around my waist. This told me two very wonderful things: nobody had fully undressed me after the incident and, because of this, no one knew of my true gender yet. Glancing down at my chest I was met with a mild surprise. My back had not been the only place to be scarred. A thick line of pale scar tissue at least two inches long sat perfectly in the middle of my breasts. An inch farther to either side and I would have lost a lung or been stabbed straight through the heart. Swallowing softly at the realization of how close death had truly come I went about the painful and slow process of binding my chest. Wrapping it was easy, but getting the fastening to stick soon proved to be impossible with my leaden limbs.

"Arrus…" I called his name in shame at my failure. At least my chest was covered now, so it was not so horrifying for him to turn and see me. He was instantly by my side, tugging the wrappings a little tighter before deftly fastening the back so that they would stay. My tunic had fallen onto the floor before I had had the chance to catch it. Cast more fully in the light the large hole in its back was all the more obvious, and the amount of rust colored blood dried into its fabric made me shiver. Without a word Arrus went to the dresser and searched through drawers until he found a simple green tunic. Our fingers brushed as he passed it to me, and he took a big step back once it was in my hand. I smiled sheepishly at him and tugged it on. It was not easy to admit defeat by your own body.

"Are you ready?" Sarj asked gruffly from his corner. Laughing, I informed him of my being dressed, and he turned to see me.

"We need to get you on your feet." Arrus said gently, offering me his hand. I accepted without complaint. My arms had more strength than they had when I had woken up minutes ago, but it was going to take a lot of moving around to get everything properly working again.

"Why is it…so hard to get my body…to obey me?" I said breathlessly as my knees threatened to buckle beneath my weight. Arrus supported me by wrapping one arm around my waist and pulling mine over his shoulder.

"You lost an inordinate amount of blood. The blade healed the hole it caused but could not reproduce what was lost on the stone floor." The prince explained as we moved slowly towards the door while Sarj held it open so that we could pass through.

Once in the hallway Arrus started guiding me deeper into the castle walls. The tournament grounds were in the back of the castle the Seer had said. The idea of going so far brought dampness to my eyes. The fire in my back and chest was so intense it was as if someone had forced me to swallow a hot coal. Still I refused to complain as we made our way down one hallway after another, choosing to bite the inside of my cheek rather than allow any tears to spill. Now was no longer the time to be selfish. The king was a cruel man that seemed to rule with an uncaring hand, but that mattered little. The important thing was the safety of his subjects. In only a handful of days I had met and made two friends, my first and only, and I would die protecting them.

"Arrus, can you help me go faster? We won't make it in time with these ridiculous legs of mine not cooperating." I said angrily. We were barely making progress because of my own inability to heal quickly. The prince sighed and bent over to hook his arm under my knees. Before I quite knew what he was doing I was cradled in his arms. We were immediately moving faster, so I could hardly complain, but the sudden movement caused a bit more pain than I could hide.

"I'm sorry, but it's the fastest solution." He apologized gently as he continued to walk briskly. I nodded acceptance and tried to gasp in pain only occasionally as the movement of his walking jostled me.

After a small eternity we finally came upon two thick wooden doors that led outside of the castle. Beyond them was an enormous courtyard surrounded by a stone stadium of sorts. Arrus quickly walked us across the short distance between the door of the castle and the arch entrance of the stadium and then sat me back on my feet.

"It might be bad for it to seem as if you're receiving favor from one of the princes." He explained when I looked up at him curiously. This made sense so I nodded understanding and used the wall to support me as we continued. Inside the stadium a group of a dozen or so boys of varying age were already gathered together. They stood on the rectangular platform that was the sparring ring listening to an oddly dressed man talk about the importance of a good defense. At our arrival several of them turned to stare. One look at my pained expression and understanding dawned on most of their faces. Relieved that they had had to go through the same test gave me the strength to hobble up to the platform under my own power.

One of them seemed to stand out from the rest. When our eyes met he did not look at me with sympathy but rather disgust and turned away with the air of someone smelling something unpleasant. I disliked him instantly. The strangely dressed man noticed me at last and spoke up in a weathered voice.

"Welcome! Welcome! You seem to be in much pain, child, did you recently undergo the king's test? Nasty business, that test, wouldn't you agree? I don't so much go for stabbing people in the back it's much better to do so from the front, yes? It allows the defender to, well, defend! Ah! How clumsy of me! What is your name, boy?" The man spoke far too quickly for me to have any hope of following, but his final question I was capable of actually answering.

"Rhy-Rhyce, sir."

"That's a wonderful name, Rhyce! It suits you! Bit fine featured right now but you'll grow sturdy and strong before you're grown! Come forward, forward! Introduce yourself to the crowd! Let's find out where you're from!"

Before I really knew what was happening I was being ushered to the front of the group. Looking around wildly for Arrus and Sarj I caught just a glimpse of them as they left the way we had come. Arrus caught my eye and gave me a small smile before disappearing. Caught with a sudden terror of being placed in the view of all of these men I had no idea what to do. They all stared at me with a mixture of expressions. Some showed the same pity as before while others snickered at my discomfort. The boy from before openly sneered.

"Go on! Go on! What's your full name and where were you snatched from?" The man insisted.

"I'm…Rhyce Mountsman …I'm from a farm on the Northern mountain of Tera." I said through my thick throat. It had been getting better but now seemed even harder to speak through than before.

"A farm _on_ the mountain? Explain! What could you possibly have grown?" The old man was almost annoyingly enthusiastic.

"I raised Dragon's Heart…for ten years for my father. He died the same day I left the mountain to journey here." I answered a bit more easily. The boys seemed genuinely interested when I mentioned the crop I had toiled to grow.

"You mean there really are people that live up there growing some flower just to make dyes?" The boy that had stared with such distaste asked. His eyes were green and hair fiery red. The face that smirked at me held so many freckles you might have been able to draw a map of the king's castle on them with accuracy.

"It earned that man a fortune. Many die attempting to grow Dragon's Heart." I said stiffly. Logic told me there was no reason to defend why I had spent so much of my life on that frozen mountain side, but something about this boy made my blood boil.

"Terrible news about your father, terrible, but I'm impressed! It is an honor to have such a hard worker among us! You will learn much very quickly, I do say! Now, I am your teacher, and you may call me Norm. Please join the others Rhyce, and welcome to the lesson!" Norm said brightly. Apparently he was so excited about his own life that he did not notice the bad vibes between the boy and me.

"As I was saying, the best sort of defense is a cunning offense!"

Norm went on like this for quite some time. I had thought him oddly dressed upon first seeing him, but as time went by I grew more and more convinced that he was strange inside and out. Physically, he sported a beard that he had parted into three braids, which he had then braided together into one large tangle. On his tall frame he wore what could only be described as a wizard's robe. It shifted and shimmered as he moved in such a way that made you wonder if it was alive. The robe was a deep purple without a pattern, but on at least two occasions I could have sworn I saw writing dance across its surface as he threw his arms around in explanation.

For two hours he described how to best disable a swordsman with nothing but your wit and powers of Wielding. The whole lesson was quite entertaining and informative. Without any of us noticing it began to grow dark until finally Norm raised his hands in defeat.

"We are out of time for tonight, alas! Ha! I said that backwards! Tomorrow we shall put this lecture into practice on this very stage! You shall be paired up with squires and taught the spells that will render them incapable of cutting your little heads off! Until then, sleep well and be gone with you!" Norm said merrily and all but danced off the stage. I did not understand that man in the slightest, but I found him to be a good deal of fun in spite of myself.

The boys dissolved in every direction as they returned to their rooms for the night. All too quickly I found myself alone on the platform. It was then that my horror set in. I had no idea where I would be staying tonight and even less idea how to get there. A soft chuckle interrupted my panicking before it could grow into full hysteria.

"Did you think I would leave you to find your own way back in your state?" Arrus asked as he moved out of the shadows of the entrance. I smiled at him in heady relief.

"I cannot express how happy I am to see you." I said with a heavy sigh. He blinked at me blankly for a moment before shaking himself.

"Come, you will stay in my chambers tonight. Tomorrow we will find you your own." He said and held out his hand to help me down. Knowing that I would not have to spend my first night in that awful castle alone was more than I could have ever hoped for, and I took his outstretched hand without hesitation.

"How are your legs? Can you walk alright?" Arrus asked by way of conversation.

"They're coming along. It does not hurt so much to move anymore, and my knees actually bend when I command them to now." I was pleased to report. Norm had had us all practice writing runes in the air as quickly as possible, and the constant movement had helped me to regain more motor control.

"I'm famished!" I declared in the same instant my stomach let out a loud growl. The timing of it made me laugh.

"I will call for supper to be brought to the room." Arrus said with a small chuckle. He was allowing me to take the walk back under my own power but never let his hand hover more than a few inches away from the small of my back. The prince's unspoken support was more than enough to keep me moving forward without complaint.

"Here." He said. His chambers were not even half the distance as we had had to go from the maid's before. Hiding my relief at the shorter distance I allowed him to open the door for me and usher me inside. The room was surprisingly small for a prince. Bookshelves lined almost every wall and all of them full to bursting with books and scrolls. In the middle of the far wall, flanked on either side by more shelving, was a simple bed just big enough for two. The room seemed better fit for a scholar than a prince. I loved it.

"There are so many!" I said excitedly as I limped to the nearest shelf. The prince followed me silently and did not stop me when I pulled out a volume written in a language I had no hope of understanding. Against the nearest wall was a cluttered desk and chair. Sitting down with a contented sigh I nestled the heavy book on my lap and started carefully going through its pages.

Its language was foreign to me but the hand painted illustrations caught my awed stare. Each page was unique in its decoration and more beautiful than the one before it. On one a silver armored knight battled a grotesque dragon and on another beautiful Sirens lured a sailor to his death. A page near the end paused my hand from turning to the next. The illustration was of a ragged army facing down an enormous force of hideous monsters that I had only ever heard described in stories. Long ago the Ugran made a pact with a serpent god, earning long life and strength of battle at the cost of their beauty. It was told that before this the Ugran were a peaceful cousin to the Ancients, unmatched in their grace and intelligence. When the deal was struck, however, the god stole away their beauty and minds as payment, and their bodies were morphed into something more reptilian than man. The entire Ugran people went mad with their loss, and now they existed only to conquer the entire world. They were a lost, evil people torn by countless millennia of grief and fury over their folly. I closed the book with little appetite left to search for more.

A knock on the door broke into my dark mood. A maid had arrived with two steaming plates of meats and breads. I had not even heard him ask for it to be brought. Arrus thanked her with a copper and took the plates with a shallow dip of his head. Without bothering to move his open scrolls the prince sat the plates down on his desk. The sight of freshly spitted pork and roasted potatoes all but chased the negative thoughts from my mind.

"Eat your fill, Rhyce." He said kindly and broke off a chunk of bread.

I obeyed immediately, practically inhaling the food before me. The meat and potatoes scalded my mouth but I did not stop until my plate was almost empty. Panting heavy I sat back and yawned in happiness. My belly groaned at me for having filled it with so much so quickly, and I patted it absently.

"That was the most delicious thing I have ever eaten." I confessed. My eyelids were beginning to grow heavy as the meal settled in my stomach. Arrus shook his head as one would at a rascally child and patted my head.

"You need to rest and allow your body to restore its loss." He instructed gently. I nodded, already half way gone.

Arrus moved out of sight, and sounds of a small struggle started to fill the room. Confused, I glanced behind my shoulder only to whip my head back around in embarrassment. The prince had been removing his armor, and I had had the misfortune of turning right as he had removed his tunic. Cheeks aflame with mortification at seeing his bare chest I squeezed my eyes tightly closed. Almost insanely I wondered if I would ever have quite so many muscles as he would once my training was finished, then laughed nervously at the folly of that idea. I was not a boy like him. No, I corrected myself, Arrus was certainly a man.

"Are you ready?" He asked from above me. I glanced up to see him leaning over the back of my chair. His chest was covered now in a long night shirt. I nodded, not wishing to speak for fear that I might sound the fool after seeing such a sight.

Without any warning he leaned down and lifted me from the seat. With a surprised squeak I clung to his shoulders for balance. Damn did I hate when I did such unmanly things. The prince's chest vibrated with a silent chuckle at my shock as he carried me towards his bed. Eyes wide with the realization of where he meant me to sleep I started shaking my head fervently.

"Arrus, there is no way in hell you are sleeping anywhere but in your own bed!" I said firmly, pushing off from his chest to glare at him. There was no forgiving such a thing as making the prince sleep on the floor or in the chair while I took the bed.

"I did not intend to sleep anywhere else." Arrus said simply. I opened my mouth to protest a second time and never quite got any words out. While I tried to gather my rebuttal he laid me down on the bed and then stretched out beside me.

"This is hardly any better!" I finally managed to exclaim. He turned to stare at me with a raised eyebrow.

"Are you worried I might try and molest you in your sleep?" He asked, face so devoid of any expression it was hard to look him in the eye.

"No, of course not! I just-"

"Then there's no reason either of us should be uncomfortable." He interrupted before turning on his side. As if waiting for his cue the purple flamed torches died down until the room was almost entirely cloaked in darkness.

At a complete loss as to what I should do I held as still as a wooden board while Arrus shuffled around on his side of the bed. When he was finally settled he lay under the covers facing away from me. He seemed quite at ease with the situation, but I had never done anything as strange as sharing my bed with another person, much less a grown man. For what felt like hours I lay wide awake trying to calm myself enough to sleep to little avail. Finally, a thought presented itself that took the tension out of my body almost instantly.

This was no stranger. It was _Arrus_. I trusted this man with my life, so why should I be worried about being near him? At this my heart slowed, and my eyes finally began to grow heavy again. Realizing that I was chilled I carefully and slowly wiggled myself under the covers for better comfort. Arrus's body heat filled the whole bed, helping the blankets to warm me. My final misgivings left me in a sigh as sleep took its hold on my senses.

Tomorrow my true training would begin.

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**Sooo? What do you think?! I'm really falling in love with this story! It will be even more fun writing what's to come! *evil laughter* **


	7. Chapter 7

**_To get rid of any confusion this is exactly the same chapter seven as before, except I have changed the ending. I read my entire story over again, and decided that I agree with those that felt it was too soon. To those who are reading this for the first time you have nothing to worry about. Please carry on. To everyone, chapter eight is already in production and will be finished by friday! That is all! _**

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_For as far as my memory has held I have known one thing to be true. Life is precious, a gift, but all too few of us understand what is squandered to feed their ever famished greed. A valuable dye, for example, might cause a father to lose sight of what he should have cherished, nurtured. Though I had known the girl for mere moments I drew my blade without hesitation at the injustices that man had dealt, and as his final breath left his lungs I knew that he had never deserved her. _

Seven

The Wyld light always awoke me far before I was ready to face the new day. A prince does not laze about in bed, however, so I stifled my sigh of protest and rolled over. The girl lying beside me sent a mild jolt of shock down my spine until I recognized Rhynne's red hair spread across the pillow. Somehow knowing her identity did little to calm me as I stared at the tangled locks shining in the light of the torches. Their purple glow seemed to fuse with the bloody red to create a new color that was hard to tie down to one word. _Like a river on fire._

She stirred gently, a sigh whistling from her lips as softly as a spring breeze. Somehow even that small sound started the little ball of uneasiness to return. It had sat in his gut since the day they had set out from that insufferable mountainside and had only grown more pronounced as time with her had lengthened. It had not been so impossible to ignore until the day she had walked out of the bath. _No._ I told myself in the same instant the intruding thought tried to catch hold of my mind. _There is no need to recall such unnecessary and irrelevant things._ Today was her first day of true training, and it would be the first chance for her to coexist among the other boys without letting off her hidden gender.

She shifted in her slumber once again, this time to mumble a single word in a voice that cracked with pain.

"Mother."

Deciding that was the final straw on the pile I reached over and shook her shoulder gently. There was no need for her to ever utter such a wretched sound. The girl jumped visibly at my touch and opened her eyes wide. For a long moment she did not seem to register her surroundings until, finally, her gaze fell to rest on mine. A smile of recognition pulled her lips up in the corners, and the ball in my stomach tightened noticeably.

"Good morning." I said stiffly by way of ignoring it. The smile grew strained as she nodded slightly in response. I wondered how often she was plagued by nightmares, then quickly decided that it was not my business to know her fears.

"Did you sleep well, Arrus?" She asked in her husky voice. It never failed to surprise me how deep her voice was. It did not seem to come from her lips but rather somewhere deep in her chest, and when she said my name it was more a purr than a spoken word.

"Very well, thank you." I answered her and quickly turned away so that I would not have to be stared down by her any longer. Rhynne had always unsettled me, and this morning was no different than any other.

"Did you manage to gather a bit more strength into those scrawny legs of yours?" I teased, attempting to lighten an atmosphere that seemed too thick to breathe properly in. I could feel her glower as I stood and began to gather my travel armor together. She evidently did not deem the question worthy of answer because she rustled her way out of the bed without speaking. I kept my back to her while she changed into her training gear. Yesterday I had ordered for the clothing to be brought to my room before we were awake so that she could sleep in as long as possible before having to get up.

At the sound of moving fabric I thought about the new scars that would forever mark her back and chest. Unbidden, the grim memory of her bleeding out in my arms swam to the front of my mind. For my father to risk the life of even one Wielder at a time like this only made clearer the need for his succession.

"I'm ready." Rhynne said into the quiet room. Her voice cut through the silence with the edge of a blade.

"Good. Can you help me with this?" I asked as I turned to face her. She looked enough of a boy to fool any stranger that laid eyes on her, what with her chest completely flattened and her hair cut so short. Still, to my eyes her femininity jumped forth as brightly as the sun. The curve of her neck, the pout of her lips, her eyes that seemed to see everything with the wonder of a newborn child; it all screamed _woman_ so loudly I found it annoyingly distracting.

"Of course!" She said brightly, obviously relieved to be given a task with which she had grown familiar. With only slightly hesitant hands she helped buckle each piece of the layered armor into place. It was the same as the day before, yet it felt a bit lighter today for a reason I could not fathom.

Just as the final piece clicked into place someone knocked on my door.

"Enter." I said politely, recognizing the single soft wrap of that hand anywhere. The doorman obeyed without a word and motioned towards Rhynne with poorly disguised distain. Lorn had always disliked those of lesser birth and had not the tact to pretend otherwise. It was a wonder that he had managed to continue on as the doorman for so many years.

"Your lesson starts in ten minutes, boy. I am to escort you." Lorn said in a voice that clearly indicated his opinion of his orders.

"That will not be necessary, doorsman. I will escort her myself. The castle entrance should never be allowed to be left unattended." I demanded coldly. This man had been a thorn in my side since as far back as I could remember without exception, and to leave Rhynne alone with him even for a few minutes was not something I was about to allow.

"As you wish, your highness." The man said with a deep bow. I knew he would never refuse me something that would free him from any sort of work. In the next breath he was gone, and we were alone once again.

"You don't have to keep protecting me, Arrus. I'm not about to do anything stupid." Rhynne spoke up. The indignation in her voice was enough to surprise me into looking at her.

"That was not my intention. I simply do not like that weasel of a man." I explained. She had not been entirely off base, though.

"Hmph." She grunted in mild disbelief and gestured with her hand for me to lead the way. Seeing her treat me so casually made me chuckle, and without thinking I reached out to ruffle her hair. Ignoring the glare she sent my direction I quickly moved ahead and held the door open for her.

The walk to the training floor was slow. Rhynne, though well fed and rested, had yet to earn back all of her strength from before the incident. Again I found myself having to banish the memories from my head in order to avoid the irrational fury that boiled up with them. I could understand being indignant at what had been done, frustration that all of our work to get her here had almost been in vain. Yet these things had not come to mind until afterwards. As the blade had begun to glow and work itself out of her wound I looked up to see my father watching with eyes as blank as glass beads. In that instant I had wanted nothing more than to strike him down where he stood, and had I not been trying to stem the flow of blood from Rhynne's chest I would have tried.

"Ah! Rhyce! Your Highness! Welcome, welcome! Do please join us upon the platform, lad! How are you feeling today? Less tired, yes? That old wound isn't still giving trouble is it? No? Good! Do hurry!" Norm called out in his way as we approached. I hardly remembered most of the walk here so engrossed had I been in my musing.

Rhynne cast me a nervous glance before obeying her instructor. Now was the time for me to take my leave, I knew, but a need to wait until she was fully ready stayed my feet. Only when she had successfully climbed onto the platform and joined the others did I allow myself to bow politely to Norm and begin to back away. Just before turning to leave I took notice of a boy standing to the edge of the rest. The look on his face as he regarded Rhynne was one of more than mere dislike. For some reason the boy held a deep hatred for her and made no move to hide it. A shiver crawled over my skin at the after image of his expression while I made my way quickly back the way I had come. I would certainly need to watch him.

Back in the corridor I hesitated. There was little for me to do this early in the morning as the sun was only just beginning to warm the ground. For a moment I considered going back to my chambers and catching a few more hours of sleep, but the pleasing idea was thoroughly dashed when the Seer's courier rounded the corner and greeted me with a deep curtsy.

"Your Highness…" The girl murmured coolly. The graceful way with which she moved and the sly way she looked up through her bangs reminded me quite too much of a snake.

"I assume your mistress has sent for me?" I asked curtly. I had no patience to wait for her to get around to it.

"Of course she has, but is that any way to speak to a lady?" The girl practically moaned at me and shifted her weight just enough to expose quite a lot of cleavage over the top of her corseted uniform. Bile soured the back of my throat at her lewd display.

Stepping around her quickly I bobbed my head in consent to the Seer's call and all but ran down the corridor. Why women felt that exposing themselves was the only way to find a husband was quite beyond my understanding. Certainly my brothers had never complained, and each had at least four women they took to bed. Sometimes they did not even bother to take them to bed one at a time. I had never seen the appeal in tired out whores such as those.

"Your highness." The Seer's voice cut into my thoughts. "I hope I am not interrupting your wanderings."

Once again I found myself at my destination with no recollection of having walked there. It would seem that my mind was not quite up to the task of allowing me to think and focus on my surroundings at the same time today. Hiding my embarrassment I turned and gave the woman a shallow bow of greeting. I hated to have to give her any after her cruelty, but protocol demanded it.

"Your courier mentioned you were in need of my presence?" I asked as coolly as possible. I was not required to like her, after all. Just seeing her face and its inhumanly beautiful features sent gooseflesh down my arms.

"That is correct, your highness. Please, come in." The Seer said softly as she stepped out of the doorway she had been standing in to let me pass. My slim hope that this might be a cordial visit vanished to moment my eyes fell on the man seated heavily on the Seer's couch.

"Hello, son." The king rumbled without rising to greet me.

"My king." I replied, bowing low. My nerves twitched much as they did just before a battle.

"My Seer has had a premonition." He began. My father had never been one to tiptoe around what he meant to talk about.

"What about, sire?" I asked, though I had little doubt it involved me in some way. The king would not have called me here otherwise.

"The boy you brought to us."

His words sparked surprise. What could the Seer have envisioned that involved Rhynne? I dared not allow the emotion to show on my face, instead letting my features settle into the mask I had worked my entire life to perfect.

"If it is about the boy, why call me here?" I inquired without inflection.

"He is to play a key role in the war to come. He may be the down fall or the up-lifting of this entire kingdom, and which it turns out to be will rely almost entirely on how prepared he is for battle." The Seer answered in the king's stead. "He must be turned into a warrior beyond all other before the Ugran arrive. My Sight has allowed me to estimate at least six months time before the main force of their army reaches the king's city."

"Your brothers are not fighters as you are. They have grown fat and spoiled behind these walls and lack the ability to train properly. You are to take the boy as your squire." My father said. It was the closest he had and ever would come to paying me a compliment. A small flame of anticipation at the challenge being presented to me caught root in my chest.

"Allow me to understand this completely. You want me to make an invincible warrior out of that tiny boy in only six month's time?" I spoke thoughtfully, trying to wrap my head around such an enormous and impossible task.

"Of course not, or at least not on your own. Norm will teach the child everything he knows of Wielding and its advantages in combat. You will only serve to strengthen his body and mind." The Seer explained. She spoke slowly, as one would to a child. Before I could speak a retort the king cleared his throat pointedly.

"There are skills you can teach the boy here in the castle," My father began, shifting a bit in his seat and ignoring its moan of protest. "But nothing beats simple experience. You are to take him to the edge of Ugran lands and set him to clearing out the stragglers that dare come too close to the border. After, of course, he has learned all he can from Norm."

"To the border?!" I exclaimed as the greatest shock since the test struck me squarely in the jaw. "Have you gone mad, father? The trip alone is a week's travel, and once there he will surely be killed! You cannot possibly think that such an idiotic decision would-"

"That is _enough_." The Seer interrupted with a hiss. Faster than any human should have been able to move she was before me, gripping my throat mercilessly tight in her bony fingers.

Caught by surprise I grabbed her wrist and attempted to twist it free of me, but her grip held as firm as a vice. Choking for air I instinctively looked to my father for help, and he had indeed stood in anger, but the look of hatred was directed at me rather than his subordinate. The king that was no father to any child walked heavily to stand before me while I continued to struggle. Even in such a situation I could not help but feel that a king should not squeak as he walked from sheer quantity of flesh.

"You will not insult me again and live, Arrus." The king spat the words with more feeling than I had ever witnessed him express. It would seem that even the heartless king of Argist could get riled up at the pricking of his pride. A single black spot blossomed in my eyesight to cover part of his face.

"Release him." He ordered curtly, and my neck was instantly free.

Gulping air in greedily I glanced darkly at the Seer as she glided away from me gracefully. She could have been having a conversation about the weather for all that her face had changed during her assault of me. My throat burned both inside and out as my breath rattled into lungs that did not feel large enough to hold what my body needed, and I was still nursing my pride at being overpowered so easily when the king spoke again.

"The boy goes to the border. He will come back seasoned and ready for war or will die there, and both are comfortable outcomes to me. You and Sarj are to join him."

"But why so far from where we need him most? Why such an impossible task? What is your true aim?" I demanded hoarsely. Pride demanded I not flinch as I forced the words out.

"Your questions are irrelevant and not worth giving an answer to." The Seer breezed with a humorless laugh. Her voice tinkled through the room like a dozen silver bells. I hated them both so entirely my insides quaked to take them.

All my life my father had given me orders, and I had followed them without question. Never in all my twenty-one years had I ever heard him give such obvious lies as reason behind his order. Even I, in my hatred of him, had always believed him to be more tactful than this. Something extremely strange was going on here, but he was the king. To openly disobey him was to have every Wielding warrior on my heels before the day's end, and that was a fight I knew all too well that I would not survive.

"As you say, _Bostian."_ I said with a deep bow. To speak his true name was a privilege only a royal could get away with, but it was still a mark of great disrespect. His chest puffed up noticeably, but the Seer lifted a hand to stop him. Quite honestly I had expected another attack at my insolence.

"The boy is to stay here for two of the six months so that he may learn what he can from Norm. Then you three will set out for the training. That is all." She said with the finality of a dismissal.

I took my leave without a word, and once back in the hallway my thoughts were instantly in motion. What did the king really want out of this venture? What had the Seer truly seen in the future? Surely not that anything helpful would come from such an order. Should I obey? The more I thought about it the more I became convinced that this was the Seer's doing. Nobody held the king's ear quite like she did, and she was certainly a slithering scorpion in the grass waiting to strike. It would seem that she wanted Rhynne dead for reasons unfathomable to me.

"Your highness."

The Seer's courier broke into my thoughts. That was the second time today that I had been taken unaware by her. My inability to multitask was starting to become painfully obvious, but I ignored my already wounded pride and turned to greet her.

"What could you possibly wish of me now?" I asked her coldly. As I spoke I allowed my mask to fall away and reveal my distaste at her arrival and felt satisfaction as she cringed.

"My mistress would have you back in her offices. She wishes to speak to you once more before you go too far." She said timidly. There was no expression of lust this time around which I was extremely relieved about.

"We just spoke. Why does she need me a second time?" My voice cut the air as smoothly as my blade, and she shrank back noticeably.

"She did not say. I only do as I am told."

"Very well." I finally conceded with a sigh. There was no point in taking out my anger on this loose woman.

"Thank you, your highness." She spoke quickly then scurried away. I had not tried overly hard to scare her. Then again I was sure I looked a sight what with my neck bruising and face as white as fresh snow. Still, I had gotten out of the conversation without having breasts thrust at my face and found that to be a blessing.

It turned out that I had not gone far from the Seer's office and was knocking on the door again far sooner than I wanted to be. My neck still ached from her grip, and I planned to repay her somehow for the attack. The immovable strength in her limbs had to have been the work of magick. No other force would allow such a thin wrist to withstand breaking.

At her spoken admittance I opened the door to find her standing alone. The king had evidently taken his leave in the short time that I had been absent. I found the situation only mildly more pleasant, since there was still at least one beast standing in the room with me. The silence in the room lengthened as she regarded me without expression, and I found myself growing angrier at her lack of speech. I was quickly becoming tired of being played around with.

"How is your neck?" She finally asked without emotion.

"What do you want from me, Seer?" I countered. Her question did not deserve an answer.

"I have new orders for you and your freshly appointed squire." She said regally. My stomach tightened in anticipation of the truth.

"What about the king's first orders?" I asked out of necessity. It was one thing for her to whisper in the king's ear to get her way of things but quite another to disobey him altogether.

"That fool is of no concern." The Seer said dismissively. Even I was shocked to hear such treason from her lips.

"What, then, do you plan behind his back?"

"I plan for that girl to become powerful enough to save us all. Your cowardly father fears the strength hidden within her and would rather her die than risk his life and kingdom falling at her hands. The man believes that his armies are enough and that the boys he's gathered are meant only to distract the enemy long enough to catch the upper hand. I have told him time and again that he is wrong to believe that he can win under his own means, but he clings to his ego as a new born calf does its mother's tit." She answered with a voice that seemed to burn the air with its fury.

For all her words only a few danced in my ears and set my heart to beating. She had called Rhynne "that girl" and "her". How could she possibly have known? Surely Rhynne was only obvious to my own eyes? I had taken every precaution, had gone far out of my way the day before to set up a plan for every scenario. I had promised myself that I would protect her from the fat king and his hag. _What could I have done wrong?_

"Calm yourself, warrior prince. You did not give anything away." The Seer said in a smug voice. Suddenly aware again of my surroundings I immediately shut down my facial expression.

"How did you know?" I asked in a level voice that betrayed none of my inner panic.

"I am a _Seer_, you fool! I knew of her gender from the very moment I Saw her and the others!" She spat indignantly, and for the first time I caught a glimpse of the creature underneath her glamour. Her face seemed to waver for a brief moment, phasing into something alien and very, very old, before settling back into the beauty that was the king's ear.

"As you say." I said, my heart beating in fear at the knowledge that such a creature was pulling my father's strings. "Why bring her, then? Why allow me to hide her gender from the king?"

"Because I felt her potential in the same moment I Saw her. In the same breath a vision stronger than any I've felt struck me, and I knew that she would be a major player in the future of this kingdom. Whether or not it shall be for its better I have yet to predict and have great doubts that I will ever be able to." The Seer replied. Her anger seemed to have lasted only that instant, and I cannot say that I was unhappy with its leaving.

"If all of this is true, what orders could you have of her?" I finally found the chance to ask.

"She is to learn all that she may from that buffoon Norm as well as receive combat training form you. When all of his knowledge has been passed to her the three of you will travel to the deserts of the west and find the dragon that calls them home. Once there you will slaughter him and bring to me his heart."

As she spoke my thoughts flew. _Dragon?! _The beasts were killed off hundreds of years ago. Such creatures have since become no more than legends. I said as much out loud with some dignity.

"Do not believe all that a legend says, boy. Dragons were a bane to this earth in their day much as the Ugran and the Unseen are now. Man worked tirelessly for a way to kill them, and once it was found they wiped them from the maps. At least that is what is told, but to those of us with the Sight there are truths that make themselves known whether we'd like them to or not. A handful of eggs survived the genocide, and of them only two of the hatchlings yet live. The oldest, a fire breather that lives by the name of Torgin, holds in his heart the key to unlocking the girl's potentials. You must get it for me. Then, and only then, can we ever be saved." The Seer explained grimly. I shook my head at the overwhelming amount of absurdities.

"Our lives are not a fable! You cannot spin a well-worded tale and expect us to go on some grand adventure with excitement in our hearts and pretty faeries in our heads! We are not your toys to play with!" I yelled at her. My façade had finally cracked, but I cared little to hold it up any longer. If this woman would see my fury then so be it.

"I speak to you only truth." She answered my raised voice by growing quieter. "This is what must be done. If you do not succeed and return with the beast's heart the kingdom falls. Of all that I have Seen this is the only absolute."

"Bah!" I scoffed at her even as I registered the signs of sincerity in her voice. Dragons were no more than faerie tale, but even if the wretched woman misunderstood what beast lay in wait I felt a growing sense of dread that she was right to send us.

"Why must Rhynne come with us?" I asked out of morbid curiosity.

"Ah…so her name is Rhynne." She said with a coy smile. I instantly regretted having spoken at all. "She must go because without her you will fail. She alone possesses the ability to 'slay the dragon' as the fables go. You and your partner are to go with her both to guide and protect her along the way. Do not allow her to die, do you understand? That is _your_ order in particular. She is to live at all costs."

"Fine." I said simply as my rage died down to a dull roar and I regained control of my expression. "How long will she train here in the kingdom before we set out?"

I cared little that by agreeing to follow her orders I was directly disobeying the king's. Hers actually made sense and even offered a slim chance that we might yet live to see old age. To allow that jiggling old fool to throw us all into certain death was to be the greatest fool, and I would not die in vain at his cowardly ways.

"She will learn what she can for the two months the king specified in our previous conversation. To his eyes you must appear to be following his demand." She said with a raised eyebrow. I snorted rather than face the idiocy of my question.

"If that is all, then, I would return to my chambers." I said even as I began walking to the door.

"Farewell, prince. Tell Rhynne that she has my eyes Watching over her." The Seer called after me as I stepped into the hallway and let the door slam firmly behind me. Her words had sounded almost like a threat.

Once finally alone for good I immediately set out towards the servant courters. Once there I pulled the nearest maid aside and instructed her to gather me the training armor of a squire, the necessary training weapons, and several sets of simple, everyday wear clothing. If I was to train Rhynne in combat during the two months she would be staying here I was going to do it the right way. By the time we left I planned to mold her into a fighter that would cause a man's boots to shake at her name.

It took only a few minutes for the maid to gather what I requested as the armory was only a stone's throw from the servant courters. Beckoning her to follow me we quickly made our way to my chambers where we set to work reorganizing the furniture in hopes of gaining more room for a second person. All but one of my bookshelves were taken down and their burden of literature packed away neatly. Then my desk and chair were moved to rest in the corner of the room. As we worked together I became embarrassingly aware of how untidy I had become in the last few years. Twice we uncovered a long dead rat that had gotten itself trapped behind a shelf that had to be swept out before we could continue with our task.

"It seems so much bigger now, your highness." The young girl said with an exhausted sigh. We had been working for at least three or more hours by then and had only just finally finished.

I had to agree with her. The room felt positively barren without my usual clutter of books and scrolls. Now that they were gone and only one bookshelf sat beside my bed, the most important documents and literature held on its creaking shelves, I felt a sense of loss. Shaking off the feeling with a sigh I turned and gave the girl one final task. Rhynne could not always spend her nights sharing my bed. The idea of her doing so brought the ball of tension back to my chest as if it had never been gone, but I ignored it. Now was not the time for figuring out why the idea unsettled me.

Once given her new orders the girl quickly left to find the small bed I had requested and the necessary people to help her bring it back with her. While I waited I sat on my own bed and pondered what the Seer had said. Now that my calm had returned it made a lot of sense that she would already know of Rhynne's gender. If she were truly gifted with Sight it would almost be impossible for her to have _not_ known the truth. Why it had never occurred to me only served to make clear how little thought I put into what should be obvious. Even as I thought on it I suddenly recalled her conversation with us in the maid's chamber the day before. The Seer had referred to Rhynne as "she" then as well, and I had simply not registered her words. Perhaps she had known that I would not and was toying with us the entire time.

The maid returned quicker than I had hoped with a small, one person bed and two male assistants in tow. They quickly muscled the frame into the room and found a place for it against the right wall. Then came the straw stuffed mattress and sheets, which they tucked into place neatly and without speaking. I nodded gratefully to them all as they finished and offered a shiny copper to the men before they left. Before the maid could look disappointed I placed a silver crown into her palm and smiled kindly.

"You did much more than they did, maid. Did you think I would allow you to leave with the same payment?" I asked mildly before shooing her off. Her tearful sputtering of gratitude could be heard even after my door had shut behind her.

Glancing out the tiny window that had been found, to my mild surprise, behind the tallest of my bookshelves I noted the sinking sun on the horizon. Somehow there was still time left in the day. It felt as if a much longer time had passed since I had left Rhynne to her training. It would be about time for them to be wrapping it up now I estimated before heading towards the training platform.

Cries of frustration and pain could be heard long before I reached the arched entrance of the grounds. Feeling as if this were not quite suited to what Norm had said they'd be training to do today I quickened my pace and completed the final fifty yards in a light jog. What I saw on the platform was confusing at first.

The boys were gathered in a circle through which I could not see what was happening. It was not until I noticed a very nervous Norm shifting from foot to foot beside them that I realized that I had been right to worry. In the same moment the Wielder glanced over and met my gaze and was running to me madly in the next.

"Your highness! Thank goodness! You must stop them, yes? You can do that, won't you? I can't you see. If I do I might hurt them both! You're stronger, yes, much stronger. Please! Stop this ridiculous play!" The old man rattled off in rising panic.

"What is going on?" I asked him firmly.

"The older one, Greggory, he started picking on the new boy. Stopped it right away, no problem! Lesson went on as usual! They are such fast learners, some of them! I do say it's because of my amazing teachi-"

"What happened to start this, Norm?" I interrupted. If I did not keep the old man on track he might never get around to explaining the full story.

"Ah! Yes! Sorry! Greggory, he started messing again when he thought I wasn't looking! The new boy, Rhyce? Yes, Rhyce! He ignored the boy, but then Greggory said something right nasty to the new boy about his mother! Should have seen him! Red in the face and on top of the boy faster than anything! They've been fighting like heathens since! Good ten minutes, now! I dare say they're quite evenly matched, what with the elder's larger size and the younger's speed. I think they-"

I tuned the talkative old Wielder out at that point and had eyes only for the cloud of dust in the center of the ring. Stepping quickly onto the platform I all but threw the boys out of my way. In the middle Rhynne and the boy I had noticed glaring before were wrestling fiercely for control. Just as I stepped forward the larger boy gained control as Rhynne's defense gave way to his sheer strength. The boy reached into his pocket while she struggled uselessly and produced a small dagger. This boy planned to kill her. Just as I drew my sword to stop him a shout rang out across the entire clearing, and Rhynne's would be murderer was thrown fifteen feet to land with a sickening crunch onto the stone seating that ran around the walls.

Confused and on guard I turned and ran to Rhynne's side. She seemed disoriented but did not have any broken bones that I could feel. She lay still, panting heavily, while she allowed me to check her for serious wounds. Her nose was bleeding from one nostril, though it did not appear as if the cartilage had been damaged, her eye was already purpling and swollen, and her lip bleed from being torn open at some point. Still, this was all cosmetic damage. She would heal well enough with the right potion and a good night of rest. A heavy relief stole the strength from my limbs as my irrational fears left me. She was safe.

"How did you do that? Why, that boy has broken his leg! Look! You threw him so far! Did you Wield? Such a movement of magick could have killed you, lad!" Norm broke into the circle at last, already rambling excitedly.

"That's enough, Norm. He has been shaken up enough, do you not agree? Have the boy that started this taken care of. When he is able to speak I will have words with him about proper respect and how it should be shown to his comrades." I spoke softly, without inflection. To allow even a fraction of my rage to show would be to slay the boy where he lay unconscious on the stone.

Knowing that my limit of self control was quickly drawing near I gathered Rhynne up in my arms and turned to the boys standing behind me. One look at my face and they were scrambling to get out of my way. I did not stop walking until we had reached my chambers. Once there I laid Rhynne down on her new bed and started pacing in an effort to calm down.

"Arrus." She said weakly. Her voice was even deeper than usual with exhaustion. I went to her side immediately.

"I will call a maid to clean your face and treat your bruises. The healer can have you feeling as if it had never happened by tomorrow." I said stiffly. Alone with her I had no reason to hide myself anymore. I felt as if a final stone had been placed on my already unbearable back and that I was about to break cleanly in two.

"No," She said, reaching out to grip my hand firmly. Her touch was warm and sweaty. "I will bear my bruises as a reminder that I am not to be fought with."

"What did you _do_ back there?" I asked to avoid arguing with her. I knew that once her eyebrows had set into that line there was no dissuading her.

"I don't know…" She said with a humorless laugh. "It just sort of came out of me. I saw his knife, and I could only think how much I wanted him to just go _away. _This enormous pressure had been building up in the back of my skull the whole fight, and when I thought that it just burst out of me all at once. Then he was gone, just as I had wanted him to be."

"I see…" I murmured. It was all I could do not to check her over again for broken bones.

"I'm so tired now…" She said weakly. As I looked on the life seemed to drain from her face like water down a mountain.

"Sleep now…" I whispered in what I hoped was a soothing voice. I had not finished the two words before her eyes had fluttered closed.

Not for the first time I noticed how fragile she looked when she was sleeping. Even before all of her recent attacks when we had stayed in that inn I had been able to see the weariness she carried on her shoulders. Now she looked even worse, as if she had just fought an Ugran bare-handed and somehow lived to tell the tale. I knew then, watching her chest rise and fall almost too shallowly to see, that I would do all in my power to keep this girl alive into adulthood. For all her strife and loss she deserved at least that.

Wide awake and only just beginning to calm down I paced the room for a while before finally giving up and just pulling my desk chair out to sit down. If I was going to be up all night it seemed rational to do some reading, but I never quite made it to the table. Instead I ended up against the wall beside Rhynne's headboard and feeling not quite sure how I had managed to get there. Still, it would seem strange to get back up again I decided.

Mumbling wordlessly to herself Rhynne shifted just enough to cause a wayward lock of hair to fall into her eyes, and I stretched out my right hand immediately to brush it away. Almost of their own accord my fingers lingered on her forehead. Her skin was softer than I would have guessed it to be, and I watched my hand move down her temple to cup her face with the fascination one might feel watching a snake poise itself to strike. My thumb found the already drying streak of blood pooling on her left cheek and stroked it away once, twice, before I suddenly recognized the extremely intimate way in which I was, for lack of a better word, _caressing_ her.

It was all I could do to pull my hand back to my lap without acting as if I had just been burned. Rhynne slumbered on without any hint that she was feeling disturbed or restless, and I stood quickly from my seat feeling as if I had just stolen some innocence from her. My fingers tingled still from her touch and continued to do so long into the night as I lay restlessly in bed.

When I finally succumb to the darkness of sleep in the wee hours of the next morning it was deeper and more gripping then I had ever experienced and unrelenting with nightmares.

* * *

**Please let me know what you think of this ending? I have the previous one ready to put back if you feel it is not better. **


	8. Chapter 8

_Years ago I sat on my bed of heaped straw and wondered what we lived for. As silent and invisible as a ghost I would watch the adults passing in and out of that man's farm and slowly decided that the only reason could be greed. Surely it must be so, since the only people I had ever met were driven by an insatiable need to line their pockets with shiny coins and precious dye. Looking back now I realize how extremely limited I had been in my understanding. Humans are without doubt the greediest creatures to ever walk the lands, going so far as to rip and tear at each other's throats to achieve their own ambitions, but they were just as capable of the opposite. No other being could ever possibly hope to love so deeply, trust so utterly, or live as fully as the creature named Man. _

Eight

It was cold in the cave. It did not seem as if it should be, so close to the shifting sands of the desert. I watched them for a moment, my eyes lifting and falling as they did. "Desert" did not seem a fitting name for the flowing dunes as they shifted endlessly across the great expanse of land. To eyes that had never known such a dry, empty land it seemed more like an ocean stripped of its life and beauty. For what felt at once like years and only seconds I continued to stare until a small sound snapped my attention away.

It was difficult to turn my body, but my will was stronger than whatever held me suspended above the floor. Still, I drifted to face the sound slower than I would have liked. Behind me was blackness. The cave seemed to stretch out and down for miles and miles. Curiously I wondered how long it would take to travel to its end and back. The sound came again from somewhere beyond the darkness's edge.

_Odd, _I thought to myself. _That almost sounded like a breath. _

"Who's there?" I asked slowly. To move my tongue was to lift a twenty pound weight with only my teeth for assistance. My voice echoed back to me from the black depths of the void and was answered by a longer utterance of what I distinctly understood to be laughter. I decided I did not like my invisible company to be making light of me.

"What do you want of me?" I forced out. The resistance was not unlike cooled molasses.

_Want of you..? I do not want anything of you, but _you_ want something from _me_. _

The voice that spoke boomed into my subconscious with all the power of an explosion, and it was all I could do not to cry out as the soundless words shook my entire body. I covered my ears as quickly as the thick air would allow in an attempt to lighten their blow but they were not something that could be forced out.

"You do not have to yell!" I whispered shakily. "I am not so deaf that I cannot year you speak normally."

The laughter came again more loudly. The sound did not reverberate in my head so much as the entire room. I wondered fearfully just how enormous this creature must be if it was capable of shaking the whole cave with its merriment. It did not seem to be the best sort of thing to try and guess when I was at its mercy, so I squashed the idea of asking aloud just as quickly as it came to me.

_Heed this warning, girl._

The voice came more quietly this time, though the pressure of it on my thoughts was no less unbearable.

_The old bitch that has charged you with my murder will do only what she must to further her own life. Do not allow yourself to be fooled. She will remove you the moment you cease to be of use to her._

"Who are you talking about? Why would I murder anyone?"

_My strength wanes. We will speak again in time._

"Wait!" I cried desperately. "You haven't made any sense at all!"

Even as I spoke the darkness branched out to surround me. In moments it had ceased to be a cave and become a thick blanket of numbing nothing. Panic gripped me as the part of my subconscious that had not forgotten the day I knocked at death's door recognized the bottomless pit that I was being enveloped by. The panic brought with it a deeply rooted terror of never making it out of that Nothing again, and I began thrashing madly in an attempt to shake it off. The darkness responded by hugging in more tightly, wrapping around my arms and applying pressure. I fought with all my strength, imagining that the pressure on my wrists were a pair of large hands forcing me to lay still.

"…nne! Rhynne! Wake the hell up! You're going to rip your lip open again if you don't calm yourself!"

Arrus's voice pulled me to the surface as if by a string attached to my middle. Suddenly aware of my lungs I sucked in air greedily. It was his hands holding my wrists, and as the realization came to me a let my arms lay still. Opening my eyes at last I tilted my head to stare at his face hovering half a foot above my own with the distinct impression that I had been having a nightmare but with no memory of its contents. He was panting from exertion, no doubt from struggling with me, and there was a frown of worry darkening his features.

"You can let me go now." I said through my throat. I must have slept with my mouth open because it was sore and dry.

Arrus did so without a word and raised a hand to rub at a bruise peeking out from under his collar. I noticed the dried stain of blood on his fingers.

"You're hurt. I didn't do that in my sleep, did I?" I asked while bracing myself for his answer.

The prince stared at me dumbfounded for a moment, and I lifted a hand to touch one of the small smears with my index finger. To my surprise it was dry and did not feel to have a wound underneath. What looked like understanding dawned in his eyes for a brief instant before his face shut down into the mask I had grown accustomed to. Standing up and stepping away from me suddenly Arrus moved to stop at his desk where a water basin sat.

"I sometimes bite my tongue in my sleep. I must have touched my mouth." He said emotionlessly as he scrubbed his hands clean. For such a simple explanation I felt that his reactions were a bit overplayed.

"You should wash yourself, too, lady warrior." He said more lightly as he dried himself with the edge of his undershirt.

"Do I look a sight?" I asked with a tiny smile. My mouth felt as if it were stuffed with cotton, and my bottom lip was without doubt swollen nearly twice its usual size on the left side. A ringing in my head started the room to spinning the moment I tried to sit up.

"Don't over exert yourself. You performed a pretty impressive bit of magick yesterday." Arrus admonished gently as he reached out to steady me.

"It wasn't as if I had much of a choice!" I said with as much dignity as I could muster through a swollen lip. When he treated me so sweetly with that teasing smile I felt as if I were being picked on by an older brother, and for some reason I found that that made me uncomfortable. He responded by ruffling my hair and laughing when I took a swing at him.

"Come, oh fearless one, it is time for you to cleanse your visage of the marks of battle and return to human form!" Arrus drawled dramatically then offered me the water basin with a flourish and a bow.

Laughing despite myself I obeyed without further resistance. The cool water stung at first but ultimately felt nice against the cut on my mouth. My left eye moved too slowly, as if it was being pressed against by an invisible hand, but I knew that it was only swollen, too. I was mildly taken aback at the amount of dried blood that flaked off or dissolved into the water as I washed myself.

"Ah, the fair maiden returns to us a monster no more. Well, mostly." The prince grinned broadly at his own rude joke and skidded away at my violent advances. In the middle of the room at that point I found myself suddenly aware of the enormous change his bed chambers had undergone since I last saw them.

"What did you do with all of your books?!" I demanded, truly furious at the idea of them being packed away.

"They were moved to offer more freedom of movement." Arrus answered with some surprise.

"Why on earth would you put away such treasures?! You had so many that some people would have killed to own!" I puffed furiously. My slurred speech served to make me sound like a whining toddler, but the prince seemed to have sobered at the mentioning of his missing literature and did not laugh.

"It was moved for the sake of practicing your exercises after combat training."

"Combat training?" I inquired in confusion. That somehow did not sound quite the same as what I was learning from Norm.

"The king has given the order that you become my squire. In addition to your classes with Norm you will be training with me in order to become a more powerful warrior."

"Wait, isn't there some sort of training to even become a knight's squire? Why this order all of a sudden? Why _me_ in particular?" I allowed the more pertinent questions to fall from my lips without resistance and promptly shut them tight against the dozen others that could be answered later.

"The king fears the power the Seer tells him you possess. He wants you to stay here in the castle for two months and then be shipped off along with Sarj and myself to the border to kill wayward Ugran. At least, those are the orders the _king_ has given." He explained evenly.

"To the border?!" I asked in astonishment. There was no possible way for us all to survive. Sarj and Arrus would certainly live, of course, but to send me as well was a death sentence with my name on it.

"Again, that is what the king has ordered, but that is not the orders we will be following."

"If we aren't going to follow the king's orders then who's?" I demanded, though I had a sinking feeling that I knew his answer already.

"The Seer's." Arrus stated in a tone of voice that agreed with my groan of protest. "She sees the potential in you as a means to winning this war rather than a danger. She would have us go an entirely different direction once the two months have passed."

"And what, pray tell, would that new direction lead us to?" I knew even as I asked the question that I sounded angry at Arrus so I quickly gave him a small smile to show that my anger lay somewhere else.

"We must go to the western deserts and find one of the last remaining dragons. Once found the dragon must be killed and its heart taken. The Seer seems convinced that with it she can awaken some sort of sleeping weapon inside of you."

He must have seen the total disbelief in my face because he continued on in a voice that demanded I listen.

"Stop that. We must leave in two month's time regardless. I would much rather chase a myth through a desert than see you or Sarj killed by those disgusting beasts."

I could not say that I did not agree with him, so I shrugged in consent of his point. Perhaps dragons did not exist, but the Seer had yet to be wrong up until this point. I wondered not for the first time whether or not she truly had such a powerful Sight, but decided that she must or she would not have been able to make it so far at the king's side.

"Oh, and there's one last dash of sugar on the sweet cake. The Seer knows you're a woman." Arrus said in passing as he began reapplying his armor.

"WHAT?" I shouted just as a knock sounded at the door.

"You may enter." Arrus called while raising a hand to calm me. I fumed in silence behind my best emotionless mask as the doorman opened the door and bowed politely.

"Will I be escorting the boy today or shall you choose to do it again?" He asked. His constant look of distaste gave me the distinct impression of a skunk that had just gotten a whiff of its own taint.

"I will take him. You will do well to control your expression, doorman. The boy has been appointed squire by the king's word." Arrus stated coldly. There was little doubt to any that saw the nonverbal exchange between the two that followed that they hated each other completely.

"Of course, your highness, how careless of me. Congratulations to you both. If you'll excuse me." He apologized without the slightest hint of sincerity and left the room as quickly as he had come.

"Pardon me, please, if this causes you any sort of offense," I began slowly the moment I knew that I could speak freely again, "but how the hell did you let that little piece of information slip through your fingers?"

"Oh, aren't you a ferocious one." Arrus said sarcastically and seemed to chuckle against his best intentions. "She did not learn it from me. She knew the first time she ever Saw you."

"She knew…and she never told the king? What power could I possibly have that would be worth lying to the king as well as giving out orders behind his back? Does she not understand that both offenses are enough to be hanged?" I asked in bewilderment. It did not seem to make sense in the slightest why she had bothered to send for me in the first place.

"I do not know how to answer any of those questions, except to say that it must be. It is obvious that she has chosen you in particular for something. What that something is will only be understood in time." Arrus said seriously.

A bird chirped behind me, both causing me to jump and become aware of the previously hidden window. Arrus smiled at my surprise and explained that he himself had forgotten of its existence, but I had stopped listening the moment I saw the sun already half way to the middle of the sky.

"I'm late for the lesson!" I cried in horror as I spun around and raced towards the fresh set of clothing laid out at the foot of my bed.

I paused only long enough to shoo Arrus into the corner and to ask why the outfit was so different than the simple garments I had donned the day before. The prince explained through his amusement at my fretting that they were the traditional garments of a squire in training, and that I would be required to wear them every day from then on. I grimaced at the idea of a uniform but had to admit that the brown cotton tunic and fitted leather pants, while clearly made for a boy two inches taller than I was, were far finer than anything I had had the privilege of owning.

When I had dressed I scrambled out the door with my new commander in tow and only had to be corrected of my turns once along the way. To my chagrin the lessons were already long underway, and even Norm looked almost annoyed at my late arrival.

"Welcome, welcome! So nice of our little fighter to join us!" The old Wielder called as he took in my still swollen lip and eye. "Why didn't you let the healer tend to your face, boy? I know, you wanted to show to the rest you were tough? I'm right, yes? I say that big of battle magick you threw might have done that for you, hmm?"

"You know my intentions, sir. I did not want another fight." I answered with my head bent in respect and tried to look sheepish. Norm snorted, slapping me on the shoulder lightly.

"Good boy, honesty is the best course of action in almost any situation! Unless your lady asks where you've been, yes? Ha! Okay! Stand beside Barumis there and let him explain what's being done!"

"Yes sir!" I said in relief. I had been expecting some sort of punishment for the day before and being late after, but it would seem that I was making Norm out to be more spiteful than he was.

The lesson went on much as the one before it had, though that day we were learning the spell to freeze an enemy temporarily in place and how best to use it to get out of the way of their attacks. There were no incessant insults towards my size or jibes at my mother today as Greggory was not there. I could only imagine that he was still recovering from the ten foot drop he sustained. What had caused him to hate me so completely from the moment he ever laid eyes on me was far beyond my ability to grasp at that time, but I knew that I would not be able to make peace with him until the problem was addressed properly.

With some of the lesson missed it seemed to last no longer than the blink of an eye, and as the sun reached the midway point of its decent we were released to go our separate ways. Norm moved from one magick to another with the speed of a wild cat, but his hyperactive personality and quirky way of explaining each new spell made the entire day a pleasure.

Arrus was waiting for me at the exit as usual, but he was dressed in a fancier version of my own outfit. To see him in public without his armor was a bit of a shock, but his grim expression quickly helped me move on from it.

We returned to his chambers without a word spoken between us, and I felt a bit of anxiety start to grow in the pit of my stomach as his door came into view. Inside his bedroom was the same as before with one exception. Across my bed two staffs as long as I was tall and two wooden swords were laid out waiting for us. I did not much like the look of the swords and pondered what we would need the staffs for.

"The staffs are to teach you balance and range of motion." Arrus said as if he had read my mind.

"What will we be learning today?" I asked. I had never held a weapon in all of my years and did not much fancy the idea of wielding one for the first time against one of my only friends.

"Endurance." The prince answered simply and handed me one of the staffs.

"What am I supposed to-Hey!"

Arrus had swung out at me without warning. Instincts learned from years of dodging ice and snow kicked in instantly, and my hands lifted my staff to block his without hesitation. The force of his strike shook my arms, but he did not allow me more than a moment to register that he was actually trying to hit me before he was swinging again. He chased me across the room without expression sending blow after blow against my defense. For a long while it was all I could do to keep his staff from hitting me, but when he finally managed to back me into a corner the anger started to settle in.

With nowhere else to go I began with a sense of desperation to watch how he moved. A sort of pattern emerged almost instantly. Every few blows Arrus would lift the staff and strike from above, but in doing so he exposed his stomach. Whether or not he was doing it on purpose I cared little, and with nothing but waning strength on my side I knew it would be my only chance to escape this madness.

_Now!_ My thoughts screeched as the opening presented itself, and I moved with all of the speed I had gained through my toils to send my staff against his stomach. To my great confusion my weapon did not connect. My balance thrown off I stumbled into the empty space that had only a moment before he had been occupying and glanced around in panic. A sharp blow to my shoulders from behind sent a cry of fury from my lips and knocked me onto my knees.

"It was good of you to catch my pattern, but you cannot show your intentions in your face."Arrus said emotionlessly from where he stood a couple of feet away.

"Your enemy will not spare your life if given the opportunity to take it. We will work on keeping your face as clean as a river-washed stone." He continued more gently and offered me a hand. I grunted at him without grace and stood up on my own.

"Good of you to explain that before you started trying to bludgeon me to death." I muttered darkly, but then sighed in defeat. His teaching style was brutal, but it made sense to teach me by example.

"You must feel the danger as you fight. I do not agree with the sword trainers here when they say relentless drill is enough to prepare you for a real fight. It's getting late, though. Here," Arrus offered me one of the wooden swords and took my staff in exchange. "Tonight you will learn the proper way to hold one of these."

My back groaned as I took the weight of the polished wood in my hands. Arrus had laid the staff across the full span of my shoulder blades with a force that would no doubt have me bruised in the morning. I sent another bitter look in his direction before letting it go and giving him my full attentions. The prince shook his head at me and moved to face me several feet away with his own practice sword.

"Your dominant hand should always rest above the weaker when holding a two-handed sword, and this exercise is meant to strengthen your upper body to its weight. Hold it as I do. Good. Now swing it above your head and bring it down again like so." Arrus spoke a command only a warrior long exposed to this sort of training could possess, and I obeyed without complaint.

The wooden sword was no heavier than the sprayer when full and I lifted it above my head easily before swinging it back down with a grunt. My shoulders fought me, but I ignored them with grim determination. Arrus would not have struck me there if he did not believe that I could work through the pain.

"That was not too bad. Do it again, and this time focus on bringing the blade down as straight as possible." He advised, doing it himself by way of an example.

I tried again, putting all of my concentration into the act. Arrus nodded his approval and moved to stand beside me. We continued that one move for what felt like hours on end. Over and over I swung the sword until my arms cried for rest and the sun begun to set. Still, I did not allow myself to complain or ask for rest. If I was to be of any help in a battle I needed to become stronger, faster, and I would swing that bastardly sword until my arms fell off it that were the only way to do so.

"That's enough for today." Arrus said after an eternity of mind-numbing work, and I dropped the weapon onto my bed with an aching sigh of relief.

"You did well, Rhyce." He praised me gently and reached out ruffle my hair. The simple compliment almost made my screaming muscles worth it. Almost.

"May I sleep now..?" I asked. It was more effort than I could muster to keep the desperate need for rest from my voice.

"Go to bed, warrior." Arrus said with a mirthful laugh. "You have earned it."

I cannot say that I did not envy his seemingly endless reserve of energy and strength, but the idea of sleep did not allow any longer than a moment for the selfish thought to exist. With bones that felt to be made of jelly I collapsed onto my bed without bothering to scoot the practice tools away from me and fell asleep almost instantly.

The next day, and those following, would turn out to be much the same. Every morning I learned something new from Norm. As we practiced our Wielding came more easily, allowing spells that had once exhausted us to come with little effort. If I had denied the fact that I could Wield before I could no longer do so now. My abilities soared above the others, the spells falling from my finger tips as water did down a hill. We learned how to summon fire at will, how to disarm first a single man and then five at once. He taught us how to sense poisons and place a ward of protection around ourselves and our company, and even let us learn how to trick someone into seeing spiders on their skin. I was especially good at illusions and could soon place whatever image my mind could invent before the eyes of my opponents. I loved every moment of it and often felt a sense of loss when Norm announced in his hectic way that the day's learning was over.

The evenings quickly became something to dread. Arrus worked me without mercy, moving from one instruction to the next only when he felt that I had mastered the one before it. It took an entire week of relentless dodging and swinging to gain enough skill at the sword and shield for him to allow me to move on to combat without one. That did not prove to be any sort of improvement as it only freed up more of my body for him to strike when I failed to execute an attack properly. I grew to believe that my friend must be part demon as time went by, but could not say that I was not learning anything. Within the first month I grew to learn how best to block a stronger opponent, how speed and small stature could serve as enormous advantages in battle, and every weakness the human body had to offer. There were surprisingly quite a few ways to kill a man with little effort, but only a couple that would kill him instantly. After an eternity I began to notice that Arrus's blows connected less and less often, and that every now and again I would be able to land one or two of my own.

The days passed quickly in this way, and all too soon the two months allotted to me were almost at their end. With two days left before we set out Arrus called a halt to my training. When I asked why he explained that I deserved some proper rest before we started on our journey. I was mildly surprised to feel a bit of sadness that the lessons had stopped, but quickly pushed it aside. There was no way I would ever tell Arrus that I missed his teachings.

Norm seemed to feel the same way as I entered the training grounds the next morning. He waved me away with an enormous grin on his old features.

"You've grown more than I could have imagined, yes? My star pupil! I do say it's because of my amazing prowess as a teacher! Please, do go and rest up for your journey. To the borders I heard! Nasty business that is, but an order is an order! Go! Be off with you, boy!" He carried on with a good-natured smile. I smiled at him gratefully and turned to leave.

"Wait." A familiar voice spoke up. I stopped and turned to face Greggory as he approached me.

Greggory had returned to lessons after three days with the healers. My throw had left him with a broken leg and scarred pride. After our fight his attitude towards me lessened into a quiet dislike and grudging respect. We had built on our Wielding often side by side over the last two months, and though I had never learned why he hated me it became apparent that his negative attitude had cooled.

"Good luck out there." He said a bit awkwardly. It was obvious that he was uncomfortable giving me good wishes.

"Thank you. You know, I never asked you. Why did you dislike me so much before you ever knew me?" I asked. If I was never to see him again I deserved to know the reason before I left.

"I guess I thought the prince was helping you. I didn't like that you seemed to have special favor." He explained with an expression of a man being interrogated.

"The prince went to a lot of trouble to bring me here on king's orders. I guess you could say he was protecting what he went to a lot of trouble to get." I said with a small laugh that Greggory joined in on with only a little hesitation.

"My pride won't allow an apology for my behavior, but I can say this. If you should come back alive expect to find me waiting for you to finish off that fight we started before. This time I'll win." He promised and offered his hand to me. I grinned and grasped his forearm in acceptance.

"You better get stronger, then. I will be expecting a long battle." I said wickedly. Greggory nodded and returned to the others.

Somehow, against my wishes, I seemed to have gained another ally. The smile did not fade from my face until I had reached Arrus's quarters. The prince was not present, however, and a large man sat on his desk chair attempting to read a novel printed in a language that appeared to contain more numbers than letters.

"Sarj!" I cried ecstatically and threw myself forward to embrace my long missed friend.

The older man grunted in surprise and returned my embrace with a booming laugh. Pulling away I promptly smacked him on his forehead.

"What the blazes was that fer'?" He sputtered as he rubbed the already reddening spot.

"For not visiting even once in two months!" I said with an exaggerated pout.

"Aye, 'tis been far too long, lass. By god have you grown to look nothing like the tiny thing I knew! Where did ye find those muscles?" He cried in admiration, taking my hand and telling me to flex. I laughed, allowing him to bluster over the strength I had gained in his absence. The door opened in the next moment to make way for Arrus as he walked in laden with saddle bags.

"It's good to see you two still get along, but could you stop horsing around and help me gather our things?" He said irritably as he began pulling out the pieces of his travel armor.

"He's just sulking because he'll have to put his suit on again. Doesn' like havin' to clank when he walks." Sarj whispered in my ear far louder than should be possible for a whisper.

"More like I don't want to have to run around with a great buffoon like you by my side." Arrus said and sent the glare he held in reserve especially for Sarj towards the older man.

I laughed at them both and began to gather our things without bothering to stop their banter. To have them both with me again was enough to set my mood somewhere in the clouds for the entirety of that day, and I reveled in their argumentative ways as we gathered what we would need for our journey. The day passed just as quickly as those before it had and by nightfall our horses were ready to set out at first light. I had been given a beautiful young battle stallion to ride early in my training with Arrus and had been taught the proper way to ride him. I had named him Disaster almost immediately for all of the fight he put up in being tamed, and it was all the stableman could do to hold him still while I climbed on. Instinct told me to lay forward and whisper promises of my loyalty to the horse, and at my voice he had calmed. From that first meeting on he and I had been inseparable companions during the days I was brought to the stables to train in horseback riding. Sarj let out another booming exclamation of shock when he first laid eyes on my mount, sending Disaster into a twitter at the sudden sound, and I admonished him for spooking my friend. The seasoned knight clapped me on the shoulder at my accomplishments, and I was given the pleasure of learning that his strikes no longer hurt or threatened to knock me over.

Sarj left us late in the evening to sleep in his own chamber, but he had not been allowed to leave until he had properly explained his absence. He'd been on patrol duty around the city's border, keeping the raiders that preyed on the poorer folk at bay with his troop of companions. I felt that to be insulting work for such a veteran of the shield, but Sarj had been proud to take it up.

"It helps me feel closer to the people." He explained in his booming voice before leaving.

"Tomorrow we ride." Arrus said seriously as I climbed into bed. "There will be no coming home until the allotted months have passed."

"I know," I answered a bit sadly. "But it must be done. Who knows, perhaps we will find this dragon of the desert."

"Mm." He grunted from his bed as he, too, settled into his pillows.

I stayed awake for a while longer thinking about what was to come the next day. I did not much like the idea of having to set out with so little knowledge of what awaited us. Every time the dragon and its desert was mentioned a nagging thought pulled at my mind. It was a memory, its contents just out of reach of my grasping. Though I had never been to a desert, I had read of them in that man's books, and I could see almost too clearly the image of endless drifting sands. As I slept the image continued into a dream.

The sands gathered around my feet, inching up in an attempt to swallow me alive. Knowing that I should not panic I looked around me for something to grasp. To my left something shifted just beyond sight, and I craned my neck in order to better see it. I registered only a shining glimpse of golden flesh and a wickedly curved claw before a familiar voice collided with my consciousness.

_I'll be waiting for you._

* * *

**So... I'm super excited about this part! Please give me reviews my friends! I hope you like it! Remember that I will be working on chapters one and two as well as chapter 9, and I cannot promise which will be done first only that it will be soon! **


	9. Chapter 9

_Our mission was to save the kingdom with the efforts of only a handful of young boys. Years later I could still think back on our struggles and laugh bitterly at the naivety with which we fought. That girl never gave up, though, no matter how impossible the chance of success seemed to us all. Looking back I realize that that sense of determination was part of the reason I was so drawn to her, but to admit that a single girl might be able to melt some of the ice I surrounded myself with was in the same breath to admit defeat. The mind can tell some very convincing lies if it does not want to know the truth, even if every day that truth stares at you with fierce, frosty blue eyes. _

Nine

Dawn's light brought with it an immediate sense of urgency, and I was out from under my heavy blankets within the span of a heartbeat. Though there was little left to pack or make ready there was still the matter of getting Sarj off his oversized arse and making sure that nothing of importance was left behind. Opposite my side of the room Rhynne still lay sleeping, and it took no longer than an instant for me to decide that she should be allowed to sleep as long as possible.

It took several infuriatingly long minutes to put my travel armor on without assistance, but I somehow managed to succeed without awaking the slumbering girl beside me. That ridiculously difficult task completed I carefully snuck out the door and started down the hallway to Sarj's quarters. To my immense surprise he rounded the corner a moment before I reached it.

"What the hell is this, then? I never knew the day would come that you would be ready to go at the right time." I commented with a raised eyebrow. The remark was colored with honest surprise to see him up.

"Ther's a first for ev'rything." He rumbled darkly as I turned to walk with him back to my room.

Rhynne was still asleep when we entered. Even though I had only been missing a couple of minutes I found it odd that she would sleep through the tinkling of our armor. As the last two months had passed she had grown extremely in tune to her surroundings, and had once woken me up during the earliest hour of the morning to express alarm at the presence of a wolf that turned out to be howling from beyond the city gates.

Sarj raised one eyebrow at me inquiringly. Even he found it out of the norm. Walking to her bedside I reached down and shook her shoulder a bit roughly. As expected her hand immediately flew to the dagger she now kept resting at her hip at night, and I quickly dodged its singing slice as she attacked whatever was holding her hostage in her dreams.

"Why me?" She groaned almost pitifully before snapping her eyes open with a gasp.

"Hello there, sleeping demon of the night. It is a pleasure to see you so lively this early in the morning." I said with a teasing smirk. Hearing her talk in her sleep had grown so normal for me I barely noted that she'd spoken at all.

"Go dunk your head in horse manure." She muttered crudely as she tucked her blade back into its proper place. The boys had been teaching her some colorful language over the last two months. I decided that a conference of manners might need to be held.

"Watch your tongue, little squire. I'm still your prince, you know." I chastised her with mock offense in my tone.

"Prince of sarcasm, perhaps." She countered without missing a beat and began washing the remains of her night away in the water basin I kept on my desk.

"It's the first week of the month. Are we going to cut your hair on our travels today?" I asked her more seriously.

She paused, water dripping from her cupped hands, and contemplated her answer. Her lower lip worked as she chewed it thoughtfully, and I found that annoyingly distracting. She was always doing that when she practiced a new move or was reading a particularly difficult scroll on a new spell. I often wondered how she even grew to have such full lips what with all the constant gnawing she tortured them with. Her lower lip popped out of her teeth suddenly as she came to her decision, and it took more restraint than I cared to mention not to tell her to wipe the shiny saliva off of it.

"Many of the boys have longer hair, right..? Would it be bad for me to let it grow just a little?" She asked softly. There was no timidity in her voice as there would have been two months ago. Rather than asking our permission she was simply asking our opinion.

"Hmm… I would have t'see it." Sarj said while twirling the corner of his mustache thoughtfully.

"I don't think it's a good idea." I offered honestly. She already had a feminine face, and adding longer hair to that mixture might be testing her luck a little too much.

"Mm." She nodded to us and thought for a moment longer, that poor lip of hers going straight back into the clutches of her teeth.

"How's this," She offered, "I'll not cut it this time and see how it looks by the next cutting day."

There was no question in her voice. Quite honestly I could not decide if I liked how confident in her own decisions she had become. More than once over the last two months it had made life particularly difficult for me. An image of her holding up the stray kitten she'd found in the courtyard two weeks ago sent a shiver down my spine. I did not dislike cats, but they sent me into an unending fit of sneezing. It was simply embarrassing.

"If that's what you want to do." I conceded without resistance. With her increased skill in decision making she had also developed stubbornness to rival Sarj's. It had taken three days of arguing and sneezing fits to convince her that we could not allow a kitten to share a room with us. In the end she gave it to that little rat Greggory she had eventually befriended, and he accepted the new pet with begrudging gratitude, admitting with embarrassment that he had always wanted one.

"Honestly it's partially because you're quite frightening with a pair of scissors. I wondered once if I would have to ask Master Norm if he knew a spell to grow a person's ear back." She teased me lightly while pulling on her leather riding boots.

"My skills directly correlate with the ability of the person I'm working on to sit still." I huffed while reaching out to ruffle her hair.

We were all still laughing and arguing good naturedly when my door opened without warning. The Seer stood in the doorframe with her usual inhuman grace and regarded our surprised faces with cold eyes. Sarj was the first to gather his words.

"How may we help you, Seer?" He rumbled politely.

"You're wasting time with pleasantries. The three of you should have been gone long ago." She scolded. I hated her silken voice more than any other sound in the world, though the squeaking of my obese king's thighs was a close second.

"We were just headin' ou' actually." Sarj said with a bow of his bald head. Without looking back to see if we were following he lifted his pack onto his shoulder and started towards the door.

Mutely the Seer moved out of his path, and in the next moment we were all out in the hall with any sense of excitement gone from our bellies. That woman had a knack for sucking the energy straight out of a room. She stood beside us now without expression, her eyes moving up and down each of us in turn to make sure we appeared ready.

"You're a squire, Rhyce. Where is your sword?" She asked.

"It's with my bags on my mount." She offered up and then displayed the wickedly sharp dagger hanging from her belt. "Inside the castle this allows me to move with more agility. Once on the road I will wear the larger blade, too."

"Be sure to. You will find all too quickly that a dagger will not be enough against your stronger enemies."

"As you say, Seer." Rhynne conceded. I wondered if I was the only one that caught the hatred leaking out of every politely spoken word.

"Very good. Now, fly. The faster you reach your destination the sooner your quest will be done with."

We wasted no time in leaving her presence. That meddling woman, if she even truly was a woman, would not be missed.

Outside the sun was just peeking over the Eastern horizon, its morning stretch painting the sky a rich red and gold, and our horses practically dragged the stable boys behind them as they were brought out in their anticipation of the ride to come. Sarj had not yet had the chance to see Rhynne in a saddle and let out a low whistle of appreciation of her grace in mounting her steed. Shaking my head at the two of them as they exchanged boasts of their horse riding prowess, I climbed onto my own mount and settled into my saddle comfortably. The road ahead was going to be a long one, and I did not feel up to wearing my armor the entire trip as I knew I would have to.

"Are we ready, then?" Sarj rumbled with a grin. It was a miracle his steed did not quake under that man's massive weight.

"Yes!" Rhynne cried gleefully. She had been gathering more and more excitement as the day to set out grew closer and now could no longer hold it in. The woman practically gleamed with happiness. It suited her to smile like that, I decided as my own lips tugged up almost against my will.

Without further discussion we spurred our horses towards the wall surrounding the castle and the quest that lay before us. An unusual sort of excitement took hold of my chest as we waited for the metal gate to rise, and the smile that had touched my face before refused to fall away. I supposed that even I could admit feeling relief at leaving my accursed home behind.

The teeming city of the king parted at our advance as if we were little more than a passing wind. I had never been fond of the fear the citizens seemed to feel of my very existence. Why they should feel unsafe around the men sent by their king to protect them had always been a little mind boggling to me. Not for the first time I studied their faces carefully as we passed by. No one would look me in the eye for more than a single panicked instant, and I found myself hating my father all the more for it. A true king does not rule by fear. This was no nation of followers but of slaves.

My briefly bright mood was gone long before we reached the entrance to the city, but I held my face expressionless. My older brothers would be kings no better than my father, and the only solace to that fact lay in the knowledge that their fat lifestyles would not serve to give them many years to rule. One day I would hold the right, and when I sat on the thrown my first order of business would be to flick that insufferable Seer off of her seat of power. Until that day came I would simply have to do my best to bide my time.

"Rhynne," I barked as a chance to test her knowledge suddenly came to me. "You've studied your maps. What is the fastest way to reach western deserts?"

The young warrior jumped at my sudden utterance but just as quickly started wracking her brain for the best answer. Once again her teeth came forward to chew on her lower lip. One day I would grow used to that obnoxious habit I promised myself. In the mean time I would simply have to ignore the pit of uneasiness the act brought to my stomach.

"Carvin should be the first city we pass through, then on through the smaller villages of Varrus and Sarki. Doing that should allow us to avoid crossing the Plain of Mourning and its dangers." She answered slowly. I could almost see the maps I had had her memorize over the last two months floating around behind her blue eyes.

"I did not ask which would be the safest route, squire. Which is the fastest?" I chastised her firmly.

"The fastest way would be to cut northwest around the city of Carvin and carve a straight line across the Plains of Mourning." She stated with poorly concealed anxiety.

"Yer not thinking of actually takin' that way are ye?" Sarj drawled with some surprise.

"Not if we don't have to, but I wanted the best answer." I conceded.

The plains were in fact an enormous stretch of swamp land. It reached from one side of the kingdom to the other and even served as its border in some places. Some parts of it were yet to be explored, and any expeditions sent out to do so were almost always met with failure. What exactly made the lands so impossible to gather knowledge from was beyond even the eyes of a Seer, and that lead many to speculate that its mysterious depths were infested with the Unseen. Regardless of that rumor the Plain of Mourning spelled death for almost all that dared enter, but for those that knew how to find the right path it was possible to cross its thinnest arm and end up standing at the base of the western deserts.

"So we'll take the first way?" Rhynne asked. I fought the urge to reach across and poke the creases of worry on her forehead. She may have become stronger, but she did not have a death wish and was trying not to look hopeful of my answer.

"Aye." I agreed. There was no telling why I found her misgivings amusing, but I hid it nevertheless.

The plan set, we nodded to the gate guards as we passed through and left the city behind. The roads to the north and east I knew more thoroughly than some knew themselves, but beyond Carvin my knowledge was limited. Populations so close to the Plains were typically small and consisted of criminals seeking to keep out of the law's eye. They were cities of thieves and cutthroats, of whores and brothels, and above all reeking with the stench of desperation. Carvin may very well be safer to pass through than the Plains, but we would be hard pressed not to have to kill a few men. The idea brought chills across my skin, and I was unsure whether it was out of dread or excitement.

We road quietly for a time, letting the bird song of the early morning break through the air unhindered. It was peaceful, I had to admit, but it felt like the calm before a storm. The task before us was not going to be an easy one. If this dragon did in fact exist, for it to have lived this long it must be extremely powerful. Furthermore, how could Rhynne be the key to bringing it down? That whole bit had never made sense to me. Whatever waited for us in the shifting sands of the west was surely aware of our coming, and that alone was enough to cause a ball of apprehension to gather in my gut and nestle there.

"Arrus, will we be making camp once night falls, or will we continue on until morning?" Rhynne asked suddenly, breaking the silence and my thoughts.

"Of course we'll be stopping. Do you expect to get out of your evening exercises? Tonight we begin your work in wrestling." I explained with my customary evil smirk. She groaned and leaned over her horse in defeat.

"Ye haven' taught that to'er yet?" Sarj asked with some surprise.

"The king would not allow me to train her in the tournament grounds like Norm did his Yielding." I was more than a little bitter to have been given so many restrictions on how I could expand Rhynne's knowledge of battle.

Sarj pulled up on his reigns and stared at me with confusion.

"Ye mean to tell me the king told ye to train the girl but didn' give ye the proper means?"

"That's exactly what I mean to say. The king has no intention of the girl living to return here. He did not want her to become too strong too quickly." I confirmed as I stopped my mount also.

"Balls!" He swore, "What a fool we serve!"

"Gentlemen, could we continue this talk without stopping?" Rhynne piped up mildly.

Sarj and I looked at each other with eyebrows raised and burst out laughing. This girl without any true experience of the world somehow managed to make us both look like amateurs. It would seem that even we could become distracted from our immediate goals when the topic of conversation was the ulterior motives of an idiot.

"Aye, that we can." I finally managed to say while spurring my horse back into a canter. She only rolled her eyes and followed.

"So the king's Seer is a traitor." Sarj rumbled thoughtfully. "What's more we're followin' her orders."

"Hers is the only plan that doesn't get me killed immediately." Rhynne offered reasonably.

As we spoke the wind kicked dirt in tiny whirlwinds that danced around our mounts, who snorted at them occasionally but paid little attention. Ahead the road branched in three directions, and a sign posted in the middle of the split indicated that Calvin was a four day ride down the left trail. We followed it without stopping, taking note of the almost immediate change in the land as we traveled farther.

"I don't like the looks of those hills." I muttered to my companions. The ground had begun to rise and fall in steep, rolling mounds, leaving a lot of room for bandits to hide beyond sight. At that point the castle stood only a few miles behind us, but already it felt like a different country. Our horses labored up and down the shifting road without complaint, but we were moving significantly slower than planned.

"Keep yer eyes open and weapons ready." Sarj demanded wearily. Behind us I heard Rhynne shift in her saddle to lay her hand on her sword.

Before another mile had passed the hills began to rise up and close in on us while the road seemed to sink in between them, and too soon for comfort we were locked in by ten foot walls of earth on either side. The road also became more treacherous for the horses as its smooth dirt changed into rocky gravel. Forced to move slowly or risk hurting our mounts the three of us craned our necks in every direction possible in anticipation of an attack. Each of us could feel a sort of tension growing in the air almost as if it were a tangible thing.

"How long until we free ourselves of this trap?" I asked aloud to break the silence.

"More importantly, why am I the only one who wasn't given any armor to wear?" Rhynne asked wryly. "I feel almost naked out of the castle without my layers."

"I don' like this one bit, an' I don' recall this road havin' any walls like this. Must've been some Yielder's doin'." Sarj tried to whisper. His voluminous voice echoed back to us a dozen times.

Our misgivings only grew when the ground started to steadily angle upwards until the horses were practically crawling up its steep slope. This was not right. I had traveled at least this far once before, and there had not been anything like this in the way. It was as if someone had shifted the land this way on purpose so that anyone who traveled down it would become little more than sitting ducks for the hunting. The echoing of the horse's hooves striking the ground and sending loose stones clattering behind us seemed to be shouting to the entire world, "Here! We are here!"

"There! Ahead!" Rhynne cried out after several long and intense minutes had passed.

Stretching my neck back I peered over Sarj's bald head at the hill above and almost whooped with joy. There ahead was the top of the trail! It took all of my training to stop myself from rushing Sarj up the last hundred yards to freedom. In reality I motioned for everyone to stop their ascent. The horses stood panting and twitching from their efforts.

"Why have we stopped? The exit is ahead!" Rhynne whispered in exasperation.

I could understand her frustration. After the stressful climbing of the last two miles it would be all but impossible not to sprint for it, but there was no possible way that what awaited us up there was not a trap of some sort. I voiced as much out loud and suggested we plan for a fight.

"You may end up having to put your training as a wielder to work, Rhynne." I finished.

"What if-"

"Shut it, Sarj!" I demanded under my breath. "You've all the silence of a drunken ox."

"All we can do is move forward, right? I say we ready ourselves for the worst and just get on with it." Rhynne offered.

"I don't disagree with you, but they're going to be expecting that. We need to think of a way to find out what's up there." I mused, unconsciously bringing a hand up to stroke the stubble on my chin.

"Wait! I can do that!" My squire squeaked in excitement.

"How?" I demanded, already dreading what her explanation might be.

"There's a spell Norm taught us about a month ago! I can sort of bend the sunlight around me so that I'm almost entirely invisible! I was the best in the class, and the only one who managed to actually succeed with it."

"You mean let you go up there alone?"

"Exactly, but any possible enemy would not be able to see me!" She said with a grin.

"No. Bad plan." I said almost instantly. There was no way on this green earth that I would allow her to go alone without any true experience in battle.

"You don't have a choice." She huffed as she dismounted her horse.

"No! Get back-Rhynne!" I hissed at her angrily, but before I could even finish my sentence she had written a strange series of symbols in the air and with a brief spark of light literally disappeared before my eyes.

Straining with all my might to see her I only barely managed to make out a slight shimmering in the air making its way steadily up the rocky slope. Without armor and chainmail to weigh her down she barely even disturbed the ground as she ascended invisibly towards the exit. Fury mixed with anxiety raged in my chest at her disobedience. I was her ruling knight, after all, and now I had no choice but to sit and wait for her to get herself killed. There would be no rest during her training tonight for her decision. Still, I had to admit to myself that I was impressed with the progress she had made since the day we had rescued her from the mountain. To think that she had so much natural talent hidden within her tiny frame would have been beyond my imagination even a month ago.

For what felt like hours Sarj and I sat as still as possible with the three horses, waiting for Rhynne to reappear before us. Without any way of knowing her progress or if she was even alive, my chest grew steadily tighter with worry. By now the sun shown directly over us, bringing sweat to our brows and in little streams down our backs. More time passed and still there was no sign.

"This is ridiculous." I finally muttered and lifted my reigns to urge my horse forward, but Rhynne's voice cut through the air and stopped me.

"Come on up, you two! It's safe, but you're going to want to see this!" She called down to us. Her voice shook with an unnamable emotion.

"Let's go." I said without bothering to hide the relief coloring my tone and, grabbing her horse's reign, guided it up behind mine as we moved.

At the crest of the hill a strange sight waited for us. There had indeed been a trap for anyone that passed through this area, but the men that had set camp here were all quite gruesomely dead. Limbs lay yards away from their owners, dried blood splattered across the floor in a chilling diorama of its path as it had been thrown through the air. A single man hung pinned against a tree to the left of the exit, a branch covered in gore sprouting from his chest. Evidently, he had been knocked into it with enough force to drive the blunt object straight through his heavily muscled body.

There had been a desperate battle here, of that there was no doubt. Most of the men still grasped their swords and daggers, many of the blades held flat against their chests as if they had died trying to protect themselves. The rocky ground was soaked with their blood and churned up from a dozen sets of boots. This had been nothing short of a slaughter.

"What creature could 'ave done such a thing..?" Sarj asked in wonder as we both dismounted and tied our horses to a bodiless tree. He'd seen far too much death in his time to be repulsed by the sight, but even he was at a loss for an explanation.

"There's too much left behind for it to have been an Ugran." I mused, carefully turning a headless body over onto its back with my foot.

"Over here." Rhynne said weakly. She stood to the right of us staring at something hidden behind a large boulder half buried in the ground.

"What is it, Rhynne?" I asked as Sarj and I walked to her.

"Balls…" Sarj said with uncharacteristic softness when the body came into view.

It was an Unseen, its ghostly white body crumpled into a heap of long limbs and dagger like claws. A broken sword tip jutted from its forehead and out the back of its bald skull, silver blood still dripping from the sharpened edge. Somehow, the bandits had managed to kill one in their fight for survival. Everything about it, from its noseless face to its legs that stretched almost as far as I was tall, seemed to be pulled out until it looked as if might break in two across the middle. This creature must have stood as tall as the trees. Its eyes stared, wide open, into space, and their black emptiness brought a shiver down my spine, but for all its strange features the most terrifying were the claws that extended from each of its three fingers. The shortest of the three was easily as long as my forearm, and all six of them were stained crimson with the dried blood of its victims.

"For the Unseen to be so close to the castle is unheard of." I finally said. "We must inform the kingdom immediately."

"We can't go back, Arrus." Rhynne said weakly. "The king will kill us for breaking orders. Let's just get to Carvin and send a messenger."

"We've only been gone half a day, though." Sarj said mildly.

"No, she's right. My father is an idiot, but he's a predictable idiot. It's entirely probable that he has placed orders for the city guards to kill us on sight if we try to return before the fourth month is up." I admitted reluctantly.

"To Carvin, then, as planned." Sarj agreed without further argument. I suspected that he was just as unwilling to relive our experience a second time as I was.

"Wait…" Rhynne stopped us.

"What is it, lass?" Sarj asked with some exacerbation.

"Aren't we going to bury them...?"

"Rhynne, there's no time for that. We have to move on in case there's more of those things close by." I replied. To bury a fallen soldier was one thing, but these men were criminals that would have killed us all and left us for the crows had they lived to have the chance. I said as much.

"I guess you're right… Then let me do this instead." She offered, reaching down to pick two handfuls of wildflowers growing from under the edges of the boulder.

Quickly, she moved from one man to the next, placing a purple bloom on the chest of each and whispering a single sentence every time. Without explaining or slowing down she worked until she had only one flower left and no more bodies to bless. Her task done she returned to us with a grim expression. I hated to see the light that had constantly been in her eyes at the castle so dimmed, but it had always been an inevitability. To our surprise, she was not done. Placing the last flower on the boney chest of the Unseen, she closed her eyes and repeated her prayer for the final time.

"Let this life force become one again with the earth, and may it serve to further its beauty."

"You are a unique sort of soul." I managed to say after a heavy moment of silence.

"I learned on the mountain that animals exist simply to survive and continue on as a species. The Unseen are no different, and we do not know what sparked the events here. It could have been defending itself." She whispered sadly. I pitied her for the guilt she felt over their deaths. She would only come to see more and more as the next few months passed.

"We should move on. This place is marked with misfortune." Sarj spoke into yet another silence that had fallen on us.

Wordlessly, we gathered our horses and set out again. Gone now were the hills. Instead a heavy woods spread out as far as the eye could see. None of us minded the change in landscape in the slightest. These woods I recognized, and as we continued onward I felt the atmosphere become less strained. With luck we would come across other travelers along the way, but the chances were extremely low.

The next five miles passed without incident. Birds continued to sing and chatter, but there were no ground animals to be seen. It brought one to wonder what they were hiding from. The road, now back to dirt, was far easier for the horses to travel, and we made great time the rest of the day. By the end of the fifth mile the sun was on its downward slope, blinding us in its descent, and in a combined decision we stepped off the beaten path to find a clearing out of sight to set up for the night.

"We won't be making a fire, will we?" Rhynne asked with little hope of my answer.

"No, there's too much of a chance that something unpleasant will follow the smoke." I replied grimly. I hated the idea of a cold dinner as well, but there was no help for it.

"What if I make a smokeless fire?" She offered up with a lopsided grin.

"If you can to that, then by all means, but now is not the time."

"Ugh, are we really going to start training immediately?" She groaned with defeat already darkening her eyes.

I only raised an eyebrow at her and watched in satisfaction as that simple expression set her to getting ready.

"Take off your weapons." I instructed.

"Wouldn't I still have them even if I was wrestling?" She asked in confusion.

"Would you like one of us to be run through? You need to know how to rely on your own strength without the help of your blades."

"Fine, as you say all mighty prince of warriors." My squire huffed sarcastically as she began to shed her weapons. I had to admit I was a bit surprised to see that beyond her dagger and sword she had five other small blades hidden along her person. When she reached into her chest to pull out a curved hook blade it was all I could do not to flinch.

"Now what?" She muttered in apprehension.

"Now you try to get out from my grasp." I said, and with no warning rushed forward and pinned her beneath me.

Gasping in shock at the sudden shift from vertical to horizontal, Rhynne struggled desperately at first. Her strength had risen but was no match for mine, however, and she only served to further my grasp on her.

"Stop panicking." I huffed. Admittedly, she was harder to keep still than I had imagined. Her tiny body held the strength of a boy twice her size, and her legs kept coming up to kick me. I thanked the welders of my armor for the metal cod piece that kept my manhood safe from her attacks.

"How can ye outwit him, lass?" Sarj put in, trying to be helpful without giving her the answer.

Panting with effort the gears turned frantically behind her icy eyes, and then something flashed as an idea struck her. To my surprise she closed her eyes and went completely limp, and only my instincts as a fighter kept me from falling on top of her and causing her injury. She lay there silently, her hands relaxed above my grip on her forearms. Apprehensive of her next move I waited, but she did nothing.

"Rhy-"

In the same instant her eyes flew open, and an ugly screech burst from her mouth as she thrust her face upwards at mine. Caught completely by surprise I reared back from her. Taking advantage, she ripped her arms to her chest, effectively breaking my grip on them and knocking me off balance, and wrapped her legs around my armored waist. With all her remaining strength she twisted her hips, throwing me cleanly over onto my back. The impact knocked the wind from me, and as the dust settled it became clear who had come out on top. The petite warrior sat triumphantly straddling my stomach, her hands resting on my shoulders as she panted from excursion.

"Did I win..?" She gasped with a grin that spread from ear to ear. Her eyes were lidded as they looked down at me from only a few inches away and full lips parted as her heavy breathing continued.

Still trying to catch my own breath I could not offer up an answer right away. Instead I only stared at her in awe of the unexpected outcome. The knot of tension that often pulled at my chest when she was too close felt as if it might rip through my lungs, and served as a barrier to my speech. Concerned, she cocked her head in a birdlike motion sending her chin length hair down to tickle my cheek. Much like that night all those weeks ago my hand chose that moment to move against my will and lifted to tuck it gently behind her ear. She stilled at my touch, her breath catching in her throat in confusion.

"You did well, little tigress." I whispered for fear my shaking would translate into my words.

Sarj cleared his throat loudly, making us both jump. Rhynne hurriedly slid off and danced over to him without looking back at me. Embarrassed of the fact that I had forgotten his presence, I stood and regarded him with my mask firmly in place. Sarj, on the other hand, could be read clearly as his face was bright red and held a smugness that pissed me off even if I did not understand it. There was little doubt that he would pursue speaking about this moment, and that was something I would fight with every bit of my strength.

"Did you see that?!" Rhynne was asking him excitedly.

"Aye, but now ye have to be able t'do it without yer foe bein' in armor." Sarj said with a wink.

"What?! Can't that be enough for today?" She begged with little conviction. Rhynne had always complained as we trained, but it had never been with feeling. It had been the understanding of us both that she did so only because she had never been able to before.

"It can be enough. With all you've seen you deserve a bit of rest." I said wearily as I dusted the dirt off of my armor. I cared little to admit that I did not feel myself up to the task of having that woman so close again.

Letting out a whoop of victory, the girl immediately set about gathering fire wood. I did not bother stopping her or trying to remind her that a fire was too dangerous. There was simply no strength left in me to argue after the long day we had all had. Sarj chuckled beside me as I sat down heavily to his left.

"Feelin' a little off, lad?" The larger man asked with a twinkle in his eye. I fought the urge to strike him and instead sighed.

"Aye," I admitted as the will to battle him suddenly fled, "but I don't understand it."

"Ye won't for a while." He said with another chortle that sent his mustache dancing.

"I don't like not feeling in control."

"Ye'll feel better after a while, jus' give it time." He promised, clapping my back in what I knew was his roundabout way of comforting me.

The moment over, we sat and watched Rhynne work. By then, completely oblivious to our exchange, she had gathered a suitable pile of tinder. To our mild surprise she whispered a short incantation and flames instantly burst forth. The fire was indeed smokeless, and I recognized the slow moving roll of the Witch Fire that was used on the torches of the castle. Thankfully, the flames were of the correct color and not that awful purple.

Nodding my approval of her work, I stood and walked over to gather my bow and arrows from my horse. If we had a fire we might as well have fresh meat to eat, I decided. Briefly explaining my decision to my companions I set out to find a good catch. What I could not tell them was that it was also a chance to clear my clouded thoughts. Why did that girl do so many strange things to me? What exactly was it about her that constantly threw me off balance?

I thought in circles as I hunted without coming to any conclusions, but managed to scare out a fox for my troubles. Without any answers but having completed my task I had no choice but to return to them. The fox roasted well, its skinned flesh popped as it cooked over the fire. It smelled of earth and wild, and I found my hunger to be a ready relief from my thoughts.

Our meal eaten and the fire doused, we lay down to sleep with Sarj volunteering as watchman. I did not put up resistance when he offered and thanked him kindly.

"Good night, men." Rhynne said softly from her furs, and we both chimed in accordingly.

That night I did not sleep, though my bones creaked from exhaustion. Something nagged in the back of my mind insistently, but its source escaped me. Troubled and restless, I stood and told Sarj quietly that I was going to go for a quick walk. The older man nodded slightly and reminded me to be careful.

I paced a circle around our clearing once, and then widened my path. With my second pass I decided that I should try scoping out the area a little bit in hopes that the hiking might give me enough work to bring me sleep. Branching off randomly I found myself at a cliff after a couple hundred yards. The view of the moon and stars from there was breathtaking, and I decided that I would sit on its edge for a time. What caught my eye below its edge stopped me cold.

Four Unseen sat silently in a square not twenty feet below me. Cursing myself for being so stupid I ducked my head down and crawled on my belly back to the edge. The creatures had not stirred, unable to hear me so far away. They stay with their long legs crossed and arms stretched to either side to grasp their neighbor's. They did not speak or make any sound, but I held the distinct impression that they were communication to each other somehow. Slowly, carefully, I retreated backwards away from the edge and stood up. The others would need to know how close they were.

Back at camp Sarj tilted his head at my obviously distraught expression.

"They're near. The Unseen have made camp just a few hundred yards in that direction. We're going to have to detour around them."

"Balls..!" Sarj cursed furiously.

It would seem that the Unseen were out in numbers only miles from our home. Without a means to warn them the chances of a surprise attack were astronomical, and we had to somehow make it through the woods without being slaughtered ourselves. Comfortable in her furs, Rhynne slept on without any clue as to the mortal danger that sit silently only feet away from her.

* * *

**Alright, so anytime it takes forever and a day to write a chapter just assume it's because it's in Arrus' point of view... **


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